美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Powwow Sweat' Promotes Fitness Through Traditional Dance

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A tribe in northern Idaho is incorporating its culture into its fitness programs. It's an effort to tackle high rates of heart disease and obesity¹. The program is called Powwow Sweat. Northwest News Network's Emily Schwing reports.

EMILY SCHWING, BYLINE²: The Coeur D'Alene Tribe is known for two things, its hospitality and its powwow. The cultural celebration is one of the largest native gatherings³ in the nation.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) Powwow Sweat.

SCHWING: So the tribe borrowed from that tradition and created an exercise program based on powwow dancing.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) Powwow Sweat.

SCHWING: The tribe has released a workout DVD. The series includes a warmup and breaks down moves for six dances typical at powwows, including the Mens's Fancy Dance.

LOVINA LOUIE: Four basic steps and then into the hip⁴ move. One, two, three, four, hip.

SCHWING: The hip move involves lifting your knee up...

LOUIE: Hip.

SCHWING: ...And then circling it out...

LOUIE: Hip.

SCHWING: ...To the side, all while bouncing to the drum beat.

LOUIE: Punch, punch, punch...

SCHWING: The tribe also hosts weekly classes at the Coeur D'Alene wellness center.

LOUIE: (Vocalizing).

SCHWING: Several times a week, people gather here on the second floor to dance along to the DVD together. Ryan Ortivez doesn't have a television at home.

RYAN ORTIVEZ: I lost 13 and a half pounds.

SCHWING: You lost 13 and a half pounds doing Powwow Sweat?

ORTIVEZ: Yes. I'm aiming to lose 40 pounds by the end of the year.

SCHWING: Ortivez quit smoking this year. He also gave up junk food and soft drinks.

LOUIE: You guys ready?

SCHWING: Wellness center director LoVina Louie keeps everyone moving through the various dances. Sometimes she pauses the DVD to workshop the most complicated moves.

LOUIE: We're going to jingle⁵.

SCHWING: The Jingle Dress dance involves a sort of box step.

LOUIE: We're going to go up, and then we're going to go a box. So we're going to go one, two, one, two, one, two, stop. That's the box.

SCHWING: She says it's harder than it looks.

LOUIE: If you don't do it regularly, your calves⁶ will hurt. Like, you're just out of breath because you're just constantly bouncing. It's almost like jump roping for 25 minutes straight.

TERRY O'TOOLE: We know, for example, that American Indians and Alaska Natives are 60 percent more likely to be obese⁷ than non-Hispanic whites. And so they have real health challenges in their communities.

SCHWING: Dr. Terry O'Toole is with the CDC's Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity division. Since 1999, the agency has funded requests for community-based health projects. O'Toole's office granted the Coeur D'Alene tribe $2 million to develop Powwow Sweat. It also supports a community garden here, an effort to promote indigenous⁸ foods and a project that stocks the reservation's gas station market with healthy food options.

O'TOOLE: Combating obesity requires more than just one initiative or one program. In fact, it takes a variety of what we call population-based strategies.

SCHWING: The goal, O'Toole's says, is to achieve community-wide results. But according to the Coeur D'Alene Tribe's wellness center director LoVina Louie, that goal isn't easy on a reservation because mainstream⁹ fitness and nutrition programs don't meet the needs of tribal¹⁰ members.

LOUIE: Most programming is only physical, or it's only nutrition. It's in these compartments¹¹, whereas we're more holistic¹².

SCHWING: It's that combination of native tradition and exercise that keeps tribal member Ryan Ortivez and his neighbors coming to class each week to watch the DVD and dance alongside each other.

ORTIVEZ: Far more attractive than doing jogging or the bicycle because it also relates to my culture and my people.

SCHWING: In addition to losing weight and getting healthy, Ortivez wants to be in good enough shape to dance in the tribe's powwow this summer. If he does, it'll be his first time. For NPR News, I'm Emily Schwing on the Coeur D'Alene Reservation.

1 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

4 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

5 jingle   

n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵

参考例句：

• The key fell on the ground with a jingle.钥匙叮当落地。
• The knives and forks set up their regular jingle.刀叉发出常有的叮当声。

6 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

8 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

9 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

10 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

11 compartments   

n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层

参考例句：

• Your pencil box has several compartments. 你的铅笔盒有好几个格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The first-class compartments are in front. 头等车室在前头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。