Gilly Flower Writings

The Dancer

By Kathryn Evans

The full autumn moon shone brightly on the gypsy campsite, as the camp throbbed with the music of drums. Two huge bonfires dominated the camp, with over a dozen vardos circled around it. Jugglers and acrobats leaped and bounded around, and occasionally over, the fires, doing their own dances to the music of the drums. A group of singers sang as if their hearts would burst, their strong, proud voices outstripping even the chorus of drums that surrounded them. Eventually, the jugglers and acrobats collapsed on the ground beside the fires, exhausted yet giddy from their performances, and the singers paused to rest their weary voices. The drummers also stopped, to find some refreshment on the cool autumn evening.

Only one drummer now remained in the circle of firelight between the two fires, and he struck up a slow, steady rhythm. After a few moments he glanced at the crowd of onlookers, and he smiled. Out of their midst walked a woman whose every movement sent a tinkling of music into the night air, for the sleeves of her blouse, and the hem of her skirt were covered in tiny bells that rang with her every movement. She took her place in the center of the firelight, and smiled as she shook her long dark hair out, which also had small bells braided into it that caught and sparkled in the firelight. She listened to the rhythm of the drum a moment, and then, very slowly, she began to move her body in time to the beat. Her hips moved first, rising and falling and swaying in perfect time to the rhythm. Her hands and arms followed next, weaving intricate patterns in the air, dancing as if of their own accord.

The drummer quickened his rhythm, and the dancer quickened her movements to match. She untied a red silk scarf from around her waist, and used it to accentuate her movements. She would let it fall gracefully in front her, allowing it to frame her dark, striking face, and then she would whirl the scarf around her body, for a flash of color in the darkened night. She looked to edge of the firelight, where she could just barely make out the faces of those who watched her, and she curled her fingers in invitation.

Two more dancers entered the circle of firelight, their movements echoed by the singing of bells. One of them wore beautifully worked silver zills on her fingers, and used them to mimic the rhythm of the drum, while her hips and chest moved fluidly in time with the music, and her feet danced nimbly around the circle. Her companion, on the other hand, danced with neither scarf nor zills, instead she danced as if possessed by some spirit. Her hair whirled around her in a dance of it’s own, bells and copper charms twinkling in the light and making music to accompany the sound of the drum and the zills that already filled the air. Her arms weaved and undulated, and her hips swayed, and her chest rose and fell; yet all her movements were graceful, and all were part of a single dance that only she knew.

All three dancers moved around the circle, all dancing their own dances, but all three dances complementing the others. Three more drummers now joined the first, two of them mimicking the rhythm of the first, while the forth drummer picked up a contrasting beat which complemented the first instead of distracting from it. The dancers instantly altered their movements to comply with the new, more complex rhythm, and their dances also became more complex, though no less graceful.

As more drummers joined in, the rhythm, one simple, grew in complexity and volume. Yet the dancers followed with ease, seeming to delight in the challenging rhythm. Those beyond the firelight also joined in the fun, clapping along with the drums as they laughed with merriment.

Finally, the drummers ended with a single, unified beat, and the dancers all stopped with a flourish, their bells tinkling, their long hair whipping around them, and their chests rising and falling as they breathed hard from their exertion. The campsite erupted in cheers, for both the dancers and the drummers. The dancers dipped in a bow, and the drummers picked up a simpler beat as the jugglers and acrobats reentered the circle.

The dancers weaved their way back into the crowed, the singing of bells trailing behind them.