When Clint Cayou dances, he leaves the world behind.
He doesn't think about his vision of the reservations as "stark-like prisons."
He doesn't think about money or personal problems.
The 43-year-old simply celebrates his American Indian culture in that moment, dancing the Northern Traditional dances of his Nebraskan Omaha tribe.
"It's spiritual," said Cayou, who is from Macy, Neb. "When you dance, you let out everything else that's bothering you. You leave it outside when you go in there."
The symbols in the dance are holy; the songs are written in remembrance of ancestors who came before, Cayou said, and the arena in which the dancers move is considered sacred.
"Someone's paid for that space," he said. "You respect that. Your movements make a prayer."
Cayou travels around the country performing the dances of his people at powwows, most recently at MSU's Pow-wow of Love on Saturday and Sunday at Jenison Field House. He has been dancing since he was a little boy, a tradition he learned from his family.
The dances are warrior-society dances, and they are a "celebration of life, victory, being able to hunt and provide for your family," Cayou said.
"You see a lot of people with their kids, four or five years old," he said. "It's evolved into a family-oriented thing."
Cayou believes dancing is a tradition which should stay within American Indian cultures.
"Others don't have the knowledge or respect," he said. "I think it's them mocking us. It's ours. They've got everything else; they can leave us our ways."
Cayou said when powwows are held on reservations, only Americans Indians attend. But he appreciates when others want to learn about different culture, and powwows such as the one at MSU allow those opportunities.
"If they want to learn about other people, that's wonderful," he said. "It doesn't mean they have to be us."
Instead, Cayou said it's important to keep insights into individual cultures.
"People always say, 'Look beyond color; look beyond race.' That's easy to talk about, but once you do that, you lose sight of who that person is.
"Identity is important."
