54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 187 



space permits. On the figures the benches are drawn as slender rec- 

 tangles. The men's stove serves as the center for the opening of 

 ga'daSo't and other dances that require no central bench, and is 

 included in the elipse when crowds swell to capacity. The sense of 

 focus is further intensified by a habitual slight advancing of the 

 right shoulder, in forward progressions, and is complete in sideward 

 steps and inward facing. 



Straight Lines, a rare pattern in Iroquois choreography (fig. 18): 

 (a) Eagle Dance, four men in a square face to face as partners, 



A. 

 (6) Forward and backward progression of partners, to meet and 

 again separate, B. 



(c) Striking-the-stick, a line of men (any number) face to face 



with a line of women, in place, part B. 



(d) Crossover of opposite men and women, recapitulation of A. 



Recross back to place in succeeding song. Formerly men 

 only. 

 Individual dancing in no particular formation or ground plan (fig. 19): 



(a) False Faces. 



(b) Wasase War dance. No diagrams shown. 



Focus.- — In crossovers the partner serves as focal point. This is 

 true of crossovers inserted into round dances (Garters, Fish type, 

 etc.) and more evident in line dances. In Seneca Eagle and Striking- 

 the-stick, a ritual object attracts the attention of the performers. 

 In the individual forms the partner is absent, but False Faces may 

 center on the patient or on the stove as a receptacle for ashes, and 

 War dancers occasionally face the singers. 



Distribution: 



In review, the abundance of rounds increases in complexity from 

 esoteric rites to purely social dances. The most sacred medicine rites 

 focus entirely on the center of the circle, whether there is a bench or 

 not. Food spirit dances alternate sexes, and Fish type couples them. 

 This crescendo can be traced in the figures, for they are arranged in 

 order of complexity. The comparative tabulation of function and 

 choreography (table 2) shows, however, that the two rounds para- 

 mount in native contemporary religion. Feather and Drum Dance, 

 do not stand at the beginning of the choreographic scale of complexity; 

 rather, they combine several patterns and are thus arranged in the 

 center, V and VI. 



