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HE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



can not be overrated. Out of the old rural songs and the lo- 

 cal cultus dances known as mysteries and religious festivals 

 the marvelous structure of Greek drama was evolved. Dionysus, 

 the god of orgies, of wine, of Bacchic revel, became in course of 

 time the patron of the drama. Indeed, several of the great dram- 

 atists, as ^Eschylus and Sophocles, were clever and skillful dan- 

 cers, who led in the chorus. They introduced the traditional dances 



Fig. 1. An Iroquois Dancer in Costume, with Mask. Staff, and Turtle-siiki.l 



Rattle. 



in their plays for an artistic purpose ; while the songs that were 

 sung to the accompaniment of the dance took a more formal shape 

 in that kind of poetry known as the ballad. 



For the purposes of this discussion, folk-dancing may be di- 

 vided into three classes : First, we have social dances. They are 

 for pleasure or amusement, sometimes comic and sometimes erotic. 

 In the second class let us place war-dances. They are expressions 



