The ceremonial dance of the Alaskan Eskimo is a rhythmic pantomime--the story in gesture and song of the lives of the various Arctic animals on which they subsist and from whom they believe their ancient clans are sprung. The dances vary in complexity from the ordinary social dance, in which all share promiscuously and in which individual action is subordinated to rhythm, to the pantomime totem dances performed by especially trained actors who hold their positions from year to year according to artistic merit.[1] Yet even in the totem dances the pantomime is subordinate to the rhythm, or rather superimposed upon it, so that never a gesture or step of the characteristic native time is lost. This is a primitive 2-4 beat based on the double roll of the chorus of drums. Time is kept, in the men's dances, by stamping the foot and jerking the arm in unison, twice on the right, then twice on the left side, and so on, alternately. Vigorous dancers vary the program by leaping and jumping at intervals, and the shamans are noted for the dizzy circles which they run round the pugyarok, the entrance hole of the dance hall. The women's dance has the same measure and can be performed separately or in conjunction with the men's dance, but has a different and distinctly feminine movement. The feet are kept on the ground, while the body sways back and forth in graceful undulations to the music and the hands with outspread palms part the air with the graceful stroke of a flying gull. Some of their dances are performed seated. Then they strip to the waist and form one long line of waving arms and swaying shoulders, all moving in perfect unison. [1] This characterization applies to the Alaskan Eskimo only; so far as is now known the other Eskimo branches do not have totemic dances. THE CHORUS The chorus which furnishes the music, is composed of from six to ten men. They sit on the in['g]lak, a raised shelf extending around the dance hall about five feet from the floor, and sing their dance songs keeping time on their drums. They usually sit in the rear of the room, which is the post of honor. Among the island tribes of Bering Strait this position is reversed and they occupy the front of the room. Some old man, the keeper of tribal tradition and song, acts as the leader, calling out the words of the dance songs a line ahead. He begins the proceedings by striking up a low chant, an invitation to the people assembled to dance. The chorus accompany him lightly on their drums. Then at the proper place, he strikes a crashing double beat; the drums boom out in answer; the song arises high and shrill; the dancers leap into their places, and the dance begins. The first dances are usually simple exercises calculated to warm the blood and stretch stiffened muscles. They begin with leaping around the pu['g]yarok, jumping into the air with both feet in the Eskimo high kick, settling down into the conventional movements of the men's dance.[2]