Seneca Women’s Dance, known as Ë:sgä:nye:’, is a vibrant expression of Seneca culture, deeply rooted in everyday life, nature, and traditional teachings. These dances are more than just movements; they are stories told through rhythm and motion, often captured in what could be described as captivating “Shuffle Dance Videos”. While not “shuffle dance” in the modern, electronic music sense, these videos showcase intricate footwork and rhythmic steps that resonate with the energy and spirit found in contemporary shuffle dance styles. This article delves into the world of Ë:sgä:nye:’, exploring its history, meaning, and the captivating performances that can be found in video format, offering a glimpse into a rich Indigenous tradition.
The creation of Ë:sgä:nye:’ songs is a fascinating process. Many melodies and lyrics arise spontaneously, sometimes in dreams, while others are carefully crafted. Like many social dances, Women’s Dance songs frequently utilize vocables, particularly the concluding phrase gai:nawea:h he:ah. However, a significant portion of these songs are sung in the Seneca language itself, adding layers of meaning and cultural depth.
Some Seneca song lyrics possess a haiku-like quality, conveying profound concepts or vivid imagery within just a few lines. Seneca songmakers masterfully utilize their language’s ability to condense extensive meaning into a few words. A striking example is found in an older, anonymous song discussed in the context of Relationship and Reciprocity (table 1). This Earth Song encapsulates a core purpose of these dances in a single word: deyögwada’nigöëwë:nye:h. Literally translating to “we are stirring our own minds,” or perhaps more aptly, “we are occupying our minds,” this word highlights the introspective and mindful nature of the dance.
Table 1. Gëöya’ge:h (Ë:sgä:nye:’), Seneca words with interlinear translation by Bill Crouse, Sr., and John Block
| Yoho:hgëöya’ge:hohdë:jöh | (vocable)in the Sky Worldit’s going on |
|—|—|
| niyögwayo’dëhjögwe’ö:weh | how our ways arethe Real People |
| awë:notgäh de’tši:yo:hdeyögwada’nigöëwë:nye:h | it’s good funand we are stirring our own minds |
| yöëdza’ge:ka:’onëhodiwahdë:jöhgai:nawea:h he:ah | on the Earthnowit is happening(vocables) |
In September 2022, the Allegany Singers captured the essence of Ë:sgä:nye:’ in a recording session at the Coldspring Longhouse cookhouse (video 3). Accompanying this performance, members shared insights into the meaning and stories behind these songs (video 4). Their narratives painted a vivid picture of the Allegany Territory as a hub of creativity for generations. Singers historically engaged in friendly competition to present the most compelling sets of Women’s Dance songs at gatherings, all while diligently learning and preserving each other’s musical contributions. This community has fostered a continuous cycle of creation, with new songs emerging alongside cherished pieces passed down from teachers and even older, anonymous songs known as “Used-to-Be Songs.” Notably, the Allegany community embraced inclusivity by allowing younger men to contribute their original songs, a practice exemplified by the Allegany Singers in their recorded set. This contrasts with traditions in other territories where song selection is often dominated by a single lead singer.
Video 3. Ë:sgä:nye:’, Bill Crouse and the Allegany Singers, Coldspring Cookhouse, Allegany Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians, September 2022
Video 4. Allegany Singers members Bill Crouse, Sr., John Block, Jake George, and Jacob Dowdy, talk about Ë:sgä:nye:’
In July 2024, Seneca singer and language teacher John Block, from the Seneca Nation’s Faithkeeper School in Steamburg, New York, shared three Ë:sgä:nye:’ songs with Bill and Andrew, elucidating their lyrics and the stories woven into their melodies (video 5). His selection included a song by Arthur Johnny-John from the 1950s addressing the impending Kinzua Dam tragedy (Hauptman 2014, xvii–xxi), an older anonymous song referencing Handsome Lake’s prophecies of the world’s end, and a song composed by John himself for the conclusion of a Sing. For John, each song served as a portal to a wealth of Seneca history, religious beliefs, and cultural values. While many Women’s Dance songs celebrate life and joy, John’s selections unveiled a more profound, introspective, and even somber dimension. The Kinzua Dam Song, for instance, captures a community grappling with pre-emptive trauma, with the opening line poignantly stating, “They are abusing us,” or as John suggests, perhaps more powerfully, “They are raping us.”
Video 5. John Block sings and tells the stories of three Ë:sgä:nye:’ songs
The songs John shared also evoked memories of his mentors, their performances, and the stories they recounted. He recounted an anecdote about someone performing a song for him, expressing admiration for its beauty, unaware that it was, in fact, a song John had created (Block 2024). Similarly, Bill shared a story of singing an Ë:sgä:nye:’ for his teacher, only to discover that it was composed by the teacher himself.
John’s final song selection highlighted the creative interplay with tradition inherent in Women’s Dance songs. For a song intended as a festive recessional at the end of a Sing, he incorporated a segment from a Ga’da:šot song, the ancient marching dance that traditionally initiates social gatherings. John expressed a personal inclination towards older songs and styles, voicing concern that crucial knowledge about these songs is fading as fewer individuals retain fluency in the Seneca language. He cited an instance of a singing group performing distorted versions of songs learned phonetically from recordings, lacking comprehension of the actual words and their meanings. Despite these concerns, he remains optimistic about the future of Seneca music, commending the younger generation’s enthusiasm in adapting Ë:sgä:nye:’ in innovative ways.
Gender Dynamics in Women’s Dance: Men Singing, Women Dancing
In a dance presentation of Ë:sgä:nye:’ by the Indigenous Spirit Dancers at Caneadea in 2024, leader Marty Jimerson, Jr., prefaced the performance by emphasizing the esteemed position of women in Haudenosaunee culture:
In our traditional ways, we hold all our females in high regard. Within the longhouses we have the clan mothers, our title holders. They are the life givers.
He then linked the dance to the Haudenosaunee Creation story, underscoring the women’s unwavering connection to the earth. This connection to the earth, the grounded movements, and the rhythmic steps are visually compelling and are beautifully captured in “shuffle dance videos” of these performances.
It may surprise some that New Women’s Shuffle Dance songs are predominantly composed and sung by men. Pre-colonization Seneca society was structured around a duality of gender roles, not a hierarchy (Hill 2017, 53–78). Men and women had distinct roles, but neither was considered superior. While the Haudenosaunee Confederacy was governed by male chiefs, their authority stemmed from the clan mothers who selected and could remove them. Haudenosaunee society was matrilineal (lineage traced through the mother) and matrilocal (men resided with their wives’ families). In the Seneca language, the female pronoun serves as the default for individuals of unknown gender. The domains of hunting and warfare were assigned to men, while agriculture and child-rearing were women’s spheres, but these distinctions did not imply a value judgment. Similarly, women performed Ë:sgä:nye:’, while men sang them. Balance was the core principle, a value echoed in other aspects of Native societies, as ethnomusicologist Ellen Koskoff notes in her comparative analysis of women’s musical roles in ritual (Koskoff 2014, 55):
When we compare the social and ritual position of Iroquois women to their Jewish and Korean counterparts described above, what is most apparent is the acknowledgment in Iroquois society—but not in traditional Judaism or Confucianism—of the value and beneficial power inherent in both the women and their music, a power that is perhaps feaured, but ultimately acknowledged and respected. […] Here, combining the power of women with that of music is not threatening but rather seen as a necessary balance to male ritual activity.
Post-colonization, the gender landscape is a complex blend of Haudenosaunee and Euro-American values and practices. Traditionalists uphold gender distinctions in social dance as integral to tradition. Bill Crouse consistently educates audiences about the traditional regalia of his dancers. As regalia varies by gender, he introduces dancers by gender, explaining the cultural significance of their attire. Bill Crouse playfully explores gender dynamics in his shows through staged competitions between male and female smoke dancers. He recounts Smoke Dance evolving from men transforming War Dance into a competitive spectacle, and women subsequently seeking to participate in Smoke Dance as well. He often invites audience members to judge the dancers, typically declaring the women victorious.
Bill Crouse’s daughters, Ashlyn Crouse and Roslyn Dowdy, discussed gender in relation to dance as a connection to other women (Crouse and Dowdy 2023). Each dances in regalia crafted by their mother. When questioned about traditional gender roles, Ashlyn emphasized her grandmother’s traditional perspective: “It’s just the way it is. My grandma’s old school, so I just don’t do some things but I still support people who do.” They cited lacrosse as an activity they abstain from, as Roslyn stated, “women don’t play lacrosse.”
However, upholding gender dualities in traditional cultural presentations does not equate to endorsing these concepts across all facets of life. All-female singing societies, like the Six Nations Women Singers, and prominent Haudenosaunee women singers such as Sadie Buck and Joanne Shenandoah, demonstrate the diverse roles of women in Seneca music. Haudenosaunee powwows have even embraced transgender dancers, highlighting inclusivity within the tradition.
It is important to acknowledge that the Seneca singing world observed appears predominantly male. Future explorations of Seneca song should strive to amplify women’s voices more comprehensively. Exploring “shuffle dance videos” of Seneca Women’s Dance offers a valuable entry point into understanding this vibrant cultural tradition and appreciating the dynamic interplay of gender, music, and dance within the Seneca community.
