Friday, May 15, 2026
West Ferris students find fitness and wellness in Pow Wow dance
West Ferris Secondary School students met at the intersection of fitness and Indigenous culture at an Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) Try Day event focused on Pow Wow dance.
The OFSAA Pow Wow Try Day was the creation of NNDSB’s Indigenous Youth Circle (IYC) as a way of bringing the Indigenous and non-Indigenous student population together to further their knowledge, understanding and skills of Pow Wow dancing in a meaningful way.
West Ferris teacher and secondary grad coach Rae-Ann Camirand said the event “was an opportunity to highlight how Pow Wow dance is a form of fitness and personal wellness. Pow Wow and Pow Wow dancing is an important part of Indigenous culture that promotes whole health and well-being; spiritual, emotional, mental and physical.”
The event was made possible through an OFSAA Try Day grant, which provided the funds for the group to bring in Pow Wow dancers from the community to lead three separate workshops throughout the day.
Try Day grants are meant to introduce new fitness concepts, provide tools for measuring individual fitness levels, obtain new equipment for a school workout area, or add a new active sport to a school program.
Indigenous dancers from the local community – Tasheena Sarazin, Ouske Couchie Bob, Albany Benson, Malia Mathias Mizzi, and Niibin Nakogee – led the students through some of the history, meaning and techniques of Pow Wow dance.
During the day-long event, students in multiple Grade 9 and intermediate-level physical education and Indigenous language classes deepened their knowledge, understanding, and skills in Pow Wow. Students learned how Pow Wow dance is a form of personal wellness and fitness and were introduced to various Pow Wow dance styles and their cultural significance.
Some of the intermediate students who participated remarked how they enjoyed the smaller group setting and how they were given the choice of the dance style they wanted to focus on. “It was nice to have the choice between Men’s Grass dancing, Women’s Traditional and Contemporary Fancy dancing,” the students said.
Camirand said that she hopes the students had fun and learned something about the cultural significance of Pow Wow to Indigenous people.
“I hope that Indigenous students had the opportunity to learn more about Pow Wow and dance and its personal meaning for them and their families,” Camirand said. “Hopefully, this series of workshops helped build a more dynamic, rich and inclusive school community that will reach out into the greater community of North Bay.”
