Every May, hundreds gather at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre for the Ben Calf Robe Annual Traditional Pow Wow — a celebration of Indigenous culture that transforms into a space of dancing, music and food.
But for all the music and movement, the first thing that strikes many attendees is the regalia: bold, intricate, deeply personal garments that have generations of meaning stitched into every seam and bead.
To help us understand what it means to wear, dance in and honour regalia, we spoke with Danni Okemaw — a jingle dress dancer and the co-founder of Nimihtotân, a movement to promote Indigenous who will be dancing at this year’s Ben Calf Robe Pow Wow. What follows is a reflection on dancing, family and the power of showing up in full colour, in her own words.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Okemaw: When it comes to our regalia, each item is a representation of a spirit, of a being. It’s a representation of who you are, the certain colours, you choose the certain designs, you pick the representation of your cultural identity. And that’s why when you go to powwow, there’s different colours, there’s different designs — nobody looks the same unless you are family. And so that’s why, to us, it’s not just like clothing. It’s not just items.
Okemaw: The jingle dress is a healing dress used for a style of dance done with good intentions and happy, positive thoughts. The style originated from Whitefish Bay, Ontario, and is called a jingle dress because of the sound the 100 to 360 jingle cones that weigh about 10-15 pounds — and to me, the heavier the dress, the more beautiful the sound. I’ve been dancing the style since I was three years old, so I’ve grown used to it.
In the ‘60s and ‘70s they’d use tobacco tins for the cones, and now we use brass. As children, they used to tell us that you can’t throw your regalia on the floor because you wouldn’t treat your friend like that. It’s a part of us and it’s very sacred, because these designs and colours are connected to us and our cultural identity.
The pink dress was made by Denise Meeches, a young seamstress from Manitoba who I used to dance with when we were kids. I really admired her work, and it’s one of the first dresses I had it made to order in 2021 after coming out of a recovery phase of not dancing for seven years. It’s really important to me to support people who I admire — and I want to support young Indigenous women.
Okemaw: When it comes to regalia, you’re always going to have one set of beadwork. The beadwork stays the same, and then throughout the weekend, when we’re at different powwows, we switch out the jingle dresses for each.
This beadwork was created by my older sister, Carrie Okemaw and is very important to our family, because these designs come from Manto Sipi Cree Nation, which is in Gods River Manitoba. These are Swampy Cree designs that come from our family. Our Kokom Ellen Okemow, and my late Auntie Margaret Okemow would create gauntlets, they would create knits with moose hide and my older sister — who is very talented with beading, artwork and being a seamstress — was gifted these floral designs from Auntie Margaret.
I asked her why she used this navy blue — she said doesn’t know why, but when I visited our community last June in Manto Sipi Cree Nation, that’s how the water looked. It was that deep blue. It’s a very important design from our family, and so I wear them proudly. The hair ties go with the theme of that beautiful navy blue, and it matches the headband.
Okemaw: I’m wearing otters at the bottom of my braids — these are actually my niece’s otters. I have other otters, but they’re very heavy. And the eagle plume on my head can never touch the ground. Our eagle feathers are very sacred, and they must always be looked after. They must always be kept in a box and treated with utmost respect.
When it comes to earrings, us as Indigenous women and Two Spirit people don’t play around. The earring game you’re going to see at powwow is going to be huge. You’re going to see the most intricate earrings, and it’s not even just from the dancers. The belt that I’m wearing is from Long Whisker Brass and my necklace is a dentalium necklace from artist Russell McCloud. And moccasins — these ones are actually very old. I’m actually working on new ones.
Okemaw: When I wear my regalia, I feel connected to my cultural identity and to my family. I feel connected to my ancestors, I feel my most beautiful in my outfit. I feel very grateful and honoured to be wearing it, because not too long ago it was illegal and adults and children weren’t allowed to wear their regalia, or to be able to even speak their language, and to be able to live in a time where we’re able to dance to our songs or sing our songs, and wear beautiful beadwork.
It’s an unexplainable feeling, and it makes me emotional because a lot of people in our older generation weren’t able to have that experience. But, it’s really beautiful to see the amount of youth in 2025 that are interested, that are curious, and want to be involved.
The Ben Calf Robe Annual Traditional Pow Wow will take place at Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre on May 10 at 1:00 p.m.
