The elevation of women in Iroquois society is too well know to again require elaboration here. Let it serve simply to accent this position to note that of all the older Iroquois dances only three are subject to frequent new compositions as a test of the composer’s skill…Moccasin Dance, Stomp Dance, and Women’s Dance. This is not to say that the other dances do nor receive new compositions as indeed occasionally happens, but it is rare and the composers prefer these three. Of them, Eskanya is the most favored by composers and indeed, the great resurgence of singing in the Longhouse Communities at Ohsweken and four of the western Iroquois reserves in NY State since 1964 has centered around composing new Women’s Shuffle dance songs. Literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of these have appeared and most are preserved on tape by the members of each society. There have been frequent visits to each member reserve to participate in huge music festivals at which the latest songs are presented and recorded by many of the Iroquois spectators. The melodies to a great many of these songs are particularly haunting and would appeal very much to the non_Iroquois ear. In actual use each song is given twice, the first begun by the drummer and the repeat by the first assistant singer. Each set of songs (referred to as a “wheel”) usually consists of 6-7 individual songs in a fixed order. Good singers can pluck a wheel from their memories of many hundreds of songs in general use which they may know and give them in this proper order. With some wheels this order is important if the emotional build-up is to be achieved in a coherent manner. Women of every age enjoy this dance. The foot work of children is usually a fast, almost in-place running shuffle of the simplest form. But for adults it is a shuffled twisting of the feet with considerable action from the hips down. The hands usually bob and rotate about close to the chest and some older women preserve an ancient practice from this position by making short flicking actions towards their shoulders. This is said to have represented women picking corn and throwing it into a pack basket on the back. Young women frequently dance with a boyish zest and action, the matrons with a smooth gracious dignity. At least two older sets of Eskanya songs exist and are performed as the Women’s offering of respect to Our Creator at certain Longhouse Festivals.
2 or more singers, usually about 6-10, in the middle, water drum and horn rattles
Only women dance this.
It is called “New”, because this is the Social Dance form and also, these are songs that are newly composed on a continuous basis. There is a bi-annual gathering called “The Sing” held in a rotating basis among the Iroquoian communities with participating Singing Societies. The attending Singing Societies sing sets of these new songs before gathering for a meeting to report on their activities since the last “Sing”. The “Sings” are usually held in April and November.
There is a separate form of the dance that is ceremonial, with songs that are ancient.
The two step side shuffle is the step in this. The women’s feet shuffle side by side