BULL. 30] 



DANCE 



381 



Dalles.— U. S. Iiid. Treat. (1855), 622, 1873. Dalles 

 Indians.— Wliite in Iiid. Aff. Rep., 204, 1844. Dalls 

 Indians. — Lee iind Frost, Oregon, 96, 1844. La 

 Dalle Indians.— M'Viekar, Hist. Exped. Lewis 

 and Clark, 11,386, note, 1842. La Dalles Indians. — 

 Parker, Jour., 140, 1846. 



Dance. Nature is prodigal of life and 

 energy. The dance is universal and in- 

 stinctive. Primarily the dance exj^resses 

 the joy of biotic exaltation, the exuber- 

 ance of life and energy; it is the ready 

 physical means of manifesting the emo- 

 tions of joy and of expressing the exulta- 

 tion of conscious strength and the ecstasy 

 of successful achievement — the fruitage 

 of well-directed energy. Like modern 

 music, through long development and 

 divergent growth the dance has been 

 adapted to the environment of many and 

 diverse planes of culture and thought; 

 hence it is found among both savage and 

 enlightened peoples in many complex 

 and differing forms and kinds. But the 

 dance of the older time was fraught with 

 symbolism and mystic meaning which it 

 has lost in civilization and enlightenment. 

 It is confined to no one country of the 

 world, to no period of ancient or modern 

 time, and to no plane of human culture. 



Strictly interjireted , th eref ore, the dance 

 seems to constitute an important adjunct 

 rather than the basis of the social, mili- 

 tary, religious, and other activities de- 

 signed to avoid evil and to secure welfare. 

 A contrary view renders a general defini- 

 tion and interpretation of the dance com- 

 plex and difficult, apparently requiring a 

 detailed description of the various activi- 

 ties of which it became a part. For if the 

 dance is to be regarded as the basis of 

 these activities, then these ceremonies 

 and observances must be defined strictly 

 as normal developments of the dance, a 

 procedure which is plainly erroneous. 

 The truth appears to be that the dance is 

 only an element, not the basis, of the 

 several festivals, rites, and ceremonies 

 performed in accordance with well-defined 

 rules and usages, of which it has become 

 a part. The dance was a powerful im- 

 pulse to their performance, not the mo- 

 tive of their observance. 



Among the Indians n. of Mexico the 

 dance usually consists of rhythmic and 

 not always graceful gestures, attitudes, 

 and movements of the body and limbs, 

 accompanied by steps usually made to 

 accord with the time of some form of 

 music, produced either by the dancer or 

 dancers or by one or more attendant 

 singers. Drums, rattles, and sometimes 

 bone or reed flutes are used to aid the 

 singers. Every kind and class of dance 

 has its own peculiar steps, attitudes, 

 rhythm, figures, song or songs with 

 words and accompanying music, and 

 costumes. 



The word or logos of the song or chant 

 in savage and barbaric planes of thought 

 and culture expressed the action of the 

 orenda, or esoteric magic power, regarded 

 as immanent in the rite or ceremony of 

 which the dance was a dominant adjunct 

 and impulse. In the lower jilanes of 

 thought the dance was inseparable from 

 the song or chant, which not only started 

 and accompanied but also embodied it. 



Some dances are peculiar to men and 

 others to women. Some dances are per- 

 formed by a single dancer, others belong 

 respectively to individuals, like those of 

 the Ontlionrontha ( 'one chants' ) among 

 the Iroquois; other dances are for all who 

 may wish to take part, the num])er then 

 being limited only by the space available; 

 still others are for specified classes of per- 

 sons, members of certain orders, societies, 

 or fraternities. There are, therefore, per- 

 sonal, fraternal, clan or gentile, tribal, and 

 inter-tribal dances; there are also social, 

 erotic, comic, mimic, patriotic, military or 

 warlike, invocative, offertory, and mourn- 

 ing dances, as well as those expressive of 

 gratitude and thanksgiving. Morgan 

 (League of the Iroquois, i, 278, 1904) gives 

 a list of 32 leading dances of the Seneca 

 Iroquois, of which 6 are costume dances, 

 14 are for both men and women, 11 for 

 men only, and 7 for women only. Three 

 of the costume dances occur in those 

 exclusively for men, and the other 3 in 

 those for lioth men and women. 



In general among the American Indians 

 the heel and the ball of the foot are lifted 

 and then brought down with great force 

 and swiftness in such wdse as to produce 

 a resounding concussion. Usually the 

 changes of position of the dancer are slow, 

 but the changes of attitude are sometimes 

 rapid and violent. The women employ 

 several steps, sometimes employed also 

 by the men, among which are the shuffle, 

 the glide, and the hop or leap. Holding 

 both feet together and usually facing the 

 song altar, the women generally take a 

 leap or hop sidewise in advance and then 

 a shorter one in recoil, so that after every 

 two hops the position is slightly advanced. 

 They do not employ the violent steps and 

 forceful attitudes in vogue among the 

 men. They keep the body quite erect, 

 alternately advancing either shoulder 

 slightly, which gives them a peculiar 

 swaying or rocking motion, resembling the 

 waving of a wind-rocked stalk of corn. 

 Indeed, among the Onondaga, Cayuga, 

 and other Iroquois tribes, one of the 

 names for "woman" (wathnmvisas, 'she 

 sways or rocks') is a term taken from 

 this rocking or swaying motion. 



Among some tribes, when the warriors 

 were absent on a hunting or war expe- 

 dition, the women performed appropriate 



