academy o* sciences] SOCIAL ENJOYMENTS 137 



The bathing dance. — The dancer gyrates and pirouettes in the ordinary style for several 

 minutes when, by a bending movement, he intimates the picking up of some heavy object. He 

 simulates placing this on his shoulder and then imitates a woman's walk, indicating thereby 

 that he is a woman and that he is going either to get water or take a bath. All this, as well as 

 subsequent representations, are performed in perfect time to the music. By a slow movement 

 and with many a backward glance to see whether he is being watched, he reaches the end of the 

 dancing place which evidently represents the stream for he goes through a pantomimic drinking. 

 He then cautiously and after repeated backward glances, divests himself of all his clothes, and 

 begins the bathing operations. He is frequently interrupted, and upon the supposed appearance 

 of a person presumably a male, he indicates that he has to resume his skirt. The operation 

 of washing the hair and other parts of the body are portrayed with appropriate gestures and 

 movements, as are also the resuming of his dress and the return to the house with a bamboo 

 tubeful of water. 



The dagger or sword dance. — This dance is performed only by men, two of whom may take 

 part in it at the same time. It consists in portraying a quarrel between them, the weapon used 

 being either the Mandaya dagger, as on the upper Agusan, or the ordinary war bolo, as in the 

 central and lower Agusan. Appropriate flourishes, parries, lunges, foils, advances, and retreats, 

 all extremely graceful and skillful, are depicted just as if a real encounter were taking place. 



The apian dance. — This is a dramatic representation of the robbing of a bee's nest. The 

 gathering of the materials and the formation of them into a firebrand, the fighting of it, and the 

 ascent of the tree, are all danced out to perfection. A striking part of the pantomine is the 

 apparently fierce stinging the robber undergoes, especially on certain parts of his body. 31 



This part of the performance always draws screams of laughter from the spectators. The 

 whole ends with a vivid but very comic representation of the avid consumption of the honey and 

 beebread. 



The depilation dance. — This is an illustration, by dancing movements, of the eradication of 

 hair especially in the pubic region. The dancer, indicating by continual glances that he is afraid 

 of being seen, simulates the depilation of the pubic hair. The pain thereby inflicted he manifests 

 by the most comic contortions of his face. 32 



The sexual dance. — This is a dramatic representation of sexual intercourse on the part of 

 one who apparently has made no overtures or any previous arrangements with the object of his 

 desire. He is supposed to enter the house and approach the recumbent object of his love (in 

 this case represented by a piece of wood or of bamboo) in a timorous, stealthy way. A hand to 

 the ear intimates that he thinks he hears some one approaching. He therefore retires a little 

 distance, and after reassuring himself that all is well, proceeds to attain his object. It is only 

 after protracted circling, approaching, and retiring, that he simulates the attainment of his 

 desire. No indications of bashfulness nor delicacy are exhibited by the female spectators. 33 



The war dance. — The war dance is performed outside of the house on the ground by one man 

 alone or by two men simultaneously. The dancer is attired in full festive array with hat and 

 red turban, and is armed with lance, war bolo, and shield. 



The accompaniment to the dance is the drum, but both the rhythm executed on it and the 

 step performed by the dancer baffled description. Suffice it to say that the music is a continuous 

 roll tattooed by two expert players, one at each end of the drum. The dancer keeps his feet 

 moving with the greatest conceivable velocity in perfect unison to the rhythm which gives one 

 the general impression of a rapid two-step. The movement of the feet reminds one of the move- 

 ments made by a rooster or a turkey cock at times. The nodding of the head of the dancer is 

 also similar to that of a game-cock before a fight. 



As the dance is supposed to represent an encounter and hand-to-hand fight, all the movements 

 of advancing and retreating, thrusting and parrying are displayed. The combatants move around 

 in circles, now approaching, now receding, always under the protection of the shield. They gaze 



31 The pubic region is referred to. 



•» Though depilation of the pubic region is represented in dancing, I do not know positively that it takes place in reality. 



w I have been informed that sexual relations between a hen and a rooster form the main feature of another mimetic dance. 



