Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People by Constance D'Arcy Mackay
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page 25 of 202 (12%)
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braves as they leave in the direction of the river when the scene ends.
DANCES. At the place indicated in the scene, the Indian maidens give one or more characteristic Indian dances. "The Blanket Dance," one of the most widely known and picturesque of the Indian dances, follows somewhat the lines of a Virginia Reel. The Indian maidens stand in a line facing each other, their blankets wrapped about them. The head couple, facing each other, spread wide their blankets behind them like great butterfly wings. Then they dance forward and back, forward and back, beckoning, retreating, gesturing, and finally dance off, with one blanket wrapped about two pairs of shoulders. Then the next couple, and so on. All sorts of fantastic steps, gestures, bendings, and swayings can be introduced. A wide space should be left between the dancers, so that all they do can be clearly seen. Dancing in great circles, like a mild war-dance, yet without the whoops and wild gestures of the latter, is another form that lends itself to the out-of-doors. Another dance is the Eagle Dance; with arms spread wide, holding their blankets at wing-like angles, the dancers circle about each other, the dance growing wilder and wilder. Still another dance is the symbolical one of the Four Winds--North, South, East, West--done by four Indian maidens. The South Wind gentle and swaying; the West Wind fantastic, with arms upraised; the East Wind with streaming hair and rain-drops shining on finger tips; the North Wind wilder than them all, and finally driving them all before her. MUSIC. Piano: MacDowell's "An Indian Idyl," "From an Indian Lodge." These can be had orchestrated. For a band: "Tomahawk Dance," by Andrew Herman. "Indian War Dance," by Bellstedt. "The Sun Dance," by Leo Friedman. |
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