DANCING ON THE EQUATOR 



wives, who take their places in the ever widening circle, 

 while they themselves inspect, with critical eyes, the as- 

 sembled throng. At first the arrival of the senior dancers 

 is marked by a wave of formality, all the couples sud- 

 denly putting on their best behaviour. After the inspec- 

 tion is completed, they join their partners in the dance, 

 leaving the senior Captains and Master of Ceremonies 

 in charge. 



In the Highlands of Kenya, amongst the A-Kikuyu, 

 in the dance which I am now describing, there is no foot 

 motion. Each man stands perfectly still, the lower limbs 

 are kept rigid, and the feet are not moved from the 

 ground, but the dancing is performed by a sinuous 

 movement of the shoulders. 



Each man stands with his back to the fires, while his 

 partner stands on his feet, and clasps her hands round 

 his waist. Like other customs in Africa, there is an un- 

 derlying reason which is obviously practical to the inter- 

 ested observer. The men, in spite of their many decora- 

 tions, wear no clothes, hence their naked backs are 

 turned towards the fires, while their partners who are 

 more warmly dressed in skins, protect them from the 

 cold night air. In turn, the men keep their partners' feet 

 warm by allowing them to stand on their insteps. In the 

 dance the men place their hands on the shoulders of 

 their partners and the only movement is a weird rhyth- 

 mic motion of the shoulders, which keeps time to the 

 song. There is no progression and the position of each 

 couple in the circle does not change. The girls, for their 



^^7 



