Amid the pounding drums, the ornate costumes and the aroma of freshly baked fry bread at the Denver Coliseum on Sunday, Sam Her Many Horses was home.
The 21-year-old Oglala Lakota Sioux, donning clothing adorned with bright beads and feathers, was competing in the 37th annual Denver March PowWow’s “fancy dance” competition before hundreds of spectators.
Although 400 miles from the Wyoming town where he began dancing at age 5, Her Many Horses said the powwow, which he has attended every year for more than a decade, gives him a chance to see friends and familiar faces from across the country.
“It’s another reason for me to go to powwows,” Her Many Horses said. “I can see what’s going on with their lives.”
The Denver March Powwow, which began Friday and wrapped up Sunday, attracted participants from places including Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Florida.
Attendees came to socialize, sell arts and crafts, and represent and celebrate their tribal heritage through song and dance.
Although participants and spectators appreciate and embrace the diversity of cultures represented at the powwow, it makes judging the dance competition tricky.
“That’s the hard part,” said Wayne Fox, a North Dakota Arikara and head judge for northern tribes.
Fox said judges from different tribes and areas of the country provide balance. Judges also take into account how well-traveled and well-known a dancer or group is within the powwow community.
“You can’t just come from one place,” Fox said.
Inside the arena, drums echoed off the walls as dancers circled the floor, draped in feathers and beads of every hue.
Some carried buckskin shields, others weapons or flags. They danced dances of victory and of remembrance.
When their dances were done, they embraced the friends they danced with and against, sharing a sense of community forged from years of seeing one another again and again at gatherings like this one.
His dance done, Sam Her Many Horses stood aside and watched, smiling, as another dance began. “It’s like my family away from home,” he said.
Kyle Glazier: 303-954-1638 or kglazier@denverpost.com
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