Performance
The spiral dance usually involves a drumming group and a chant or song in addition to the dancers. All members present hold hands and follow a leader in a counter-clockwise motion using a grapevine step. As the leader comes near closing the circle, he or she whips around and begins moving clockwise while facing the rest of the dancers. By continuing this formation, every dancer in the line will eventually be face to face with every other dancer.
In some close-knit circles, where people are comfortable with the idea, a kiss is given to each person at the moment they pass each other in the dance. In some cases kissing may be discouraged upon during large or public rituals, due to disruptions of the rhythm of the dance.
Read more about this topic: Spiral Dance
Famous quotes containing the word performance:
“What avails it that you are a Christian, if you are not purer than the heathen, if you deny yourself no more, if you are not more religious? I know of many systems of religion esteemed heathenish whose precepts fill the reader with shame, and provoke him to new endeavors, though it be to the performance of rites merely.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“True balance requires assigning realistic performance expectations to each of our roles. True balance requires us to acknowledge that our performance in some areas is more important than in others. True balance demands that we determine what accomplishments give us honest satisfaction as well as what failures cause us intolerable grief.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“Kind are her answers,
But her performance keeps no day;
Breaks time, as dancers,
From their own music when they stray.”
—Thomas Campion (1567–1620)