A women’s dance style category at a competition powwow, run for dancers aged 18 to 39 and scored individually against the other women in the same class; “No.” stands for Northern.
No. Buckskin/Cloth is the Northern buckskin and cloth class for women in a competition powwow. On the template behind this page it has a single class: female dancers in the Adult band, aged 18 to 39. Every entrant is an individual and carries one registrar-issued number for the whole weekend. The “No.” in the title is short for Northern, and the class has a Southern counterpart, So. Buckskin/Cloth, which is a separate item.
The template is built from the published dance categories and rules of one competition powwow in the United States. In that source the women’s list for ages 18 to 39 runs Jingle, Fancy, Northern Buckskin/Cloth and Southern Buckskin/Cloth. The two buckskin and cloth classes are therefore sister classes, and a dancer enters one or the other, never both, because the rules allow a single category per contestant and forbid switching once registered.
In the older divisions the source no longer prints this class on its own. From the Senior band upward the women’s list collapses into a combined Northern and Southern Traditional class alongside Fancy Shawl and Jingle, which the template keeps as its own items. Read this item as the 18 to 39 class only; women in other bands will find themselves in the Traditional or merged items instead.
Placings come from a point system, not from one judged round. The rules the template follows describe points accumulated across sessions from the Friday grand entry, with each contestant’s number recorded at every grand entry. Dancers register ahead of the event, dance in full regalia, and a category with fewer than five dancers may be combined with another by the committee.
For an organiser using eTalenter the job is keeping the Northern and Southern lists straight. Register each woman into exactly one of them, record attendance at every grand entry and total each dancer’s points across the weekend. This page explains how the category is organised. It does not describe the dance, the dress or the regalia, which belong to the communities that practise them.
Where No. Buckskin/Cloth is run
On eTalenter this item appears in one template, the competition powwow template, where it is assigned to female dancers in the Adult band. Competition powwows are held across the United States and Canada, usually over a weekend, and a Northern and Southern split of the women’s traditional classes is a feature of the schedule at some of them. Each powwow publishes its own style names, age bands and merges, so read the organiser’s notice before assuming another event runs the same class in the same band.
- United States (the competition powwow the template is built from)
- Canada and other competition powwows across North America, each with its own published rules
Key facts
- An Individual item: each dancer is one contestant with one registrar-issued number
- One template class, female only: Adult (18 to 39)
- “No.” means Northern; the Southern sister class, So. Buckskin/Cloth, is a separate item and a dancer enters one or the other
- From the Senior band upward the source merges women’s traditional dancing into a combined Northern and Southern class, a separate item on the template
- Points accumulate across sessions from the Friday grand entry; there is no single judged round
- One category per dancer, no switching after registration, full regalia required, and a class with fewer than five dancers may be combined
- The template scores out of 100 marks as a working scale and sets no time limit; the source prints neither
On eTalenter, No. Buckskin/Cloth is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, No. Buckskin/Cloth is most often entered as an Individual competition, commonly run for Female, typically scored out of 100.
What judges look at in No. Buckskin/Cloth
What a No. Buckskin/Cloth panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- The published rules name no scoring sheet for this class, so committees agree their own yardsticks before the first session; the points below are organiser guidance, not rules from the source
- Staying with the drum: whether the dancer keeps time through the whole song, follows the singers’ changes of pace and finishes exactly on the final beat
- Consistency over the weekend: points are added up across several sessions, so a dancer who dances as carefully in the last session as in the first generally out-scores one who fades
- Staying inside the class: committees usually expect a Northern entrant to keep to the Northern manner of dancing rather than borrowing from the Southern class beside it, so the two lists are normally judged against their own tradition
- Regalia kept secure and in good order for every song, so the judges watch the dancing rather than a loose piece
- Conduct in the arena: attention to the announcer and head judges, keeping to the dancing area and courtesy to the other dancers on the floor
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for No. Buckskin/Cloth under Scoring Setup, or start from judge scoring and tabulation software.
How to prepare for No. Buckskin/Cloth
How entrants and their teachers usually get No. Buckskin/Cloth right on the day:
- Decide between Northern and Southern before registering, ask the family or dancer which tradition they dance, and tell them the choice is final once the registrar has recorded it
- Check the dancer’s age on the day of registration: the template class is 18 to 39, and women outside it dance in the Senior, Golden Age or Living Treasure items
- Register online before the closing date; onsite registration closes at a fixed time on Saturday, so a late arrival can miss the opening of the points race
- Rehearse for the weekend, not one song: run several sessions back to back and plan water, food and rest between grand entries
- Practise to songs the dancer has not heard before so that landing on the last beat becomes a habit rather than something memorised
- Inspect the regalia a week early, secure anything that could loosen and pack a small repair kit so a fault never costs a grand entry
- Confirm with the registrar that the dancer’s number is logged at every grand entry; points are totalled from those records, so a missed entry is a lost score
Ready-made event templates that include No. Buckskin/Cloth
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Powwow Dance & Drum Competition (Denver March Powwow) | On Stage | Marks | 1 |
Frequently asked questions
Is No. Buckskin/Cloth judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, commonly for Female, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
What does “No.” mean in No. Buckskin/Cloth?
It is short for Northern. The source lists a Northern and a Southern Buckskin/Cloth class side by side for women aged 18 to 39, and the template keeps them as two items.
Can a dancer enter both the Northern and Southern classes?
No. The rules the template follows allow one category per contestant and no switching after registration, so the dancer chooses one.
Which women can enter this item on the template?
Female dancers in the Adult band, aged 18 to 39. Older women dance in the Senior, Golden Age and Living Treasure items, where Northern and Southern Traditional are combined.
Is it judged individually or as a team?
Individually. Each dancer holds one registrar-issued number and earns points of her own, even though many contestants share the arena.
Is there a time limit?
The source behind the template prints no time limit, so the template sets none and uses a working scale of 100 marks. An organiser who needs a limit should set it in their own event and publish it with the rules.
Want the full judging picture? Read judge scoring and tabulation software, or browse every on stage competition item.
Try No. Buckskin/Cloth in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs No. Buckskin/Cloth, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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