Dancing., 1981-01-01

Unknown artist

1981-01-01

photo, print, drawing

Library of Congress

A group of people in traditional attire are dancing around a maypole with streamers. The dancers are moving in a circle, holding onto the streamers that are attached to the top of the pole. This photograph shows male and female dancers dressed in folk costume dancing around a maypole. Maypole dancing is a form of folk dance, brought to the Caribbean by the English, in which participants dance in a circle, each holding a colored ribbon attached to a pole. The ribbons are intertwined and plaited either to the pole itself or into a web around the pole. The dancers then can retrace their steps in order to unravel the ribbons. The photograph is from the collection of the Columbus Memorial Library of the Organization of American States (OAS), which includes 45,000 photographs illustrative of life and culture in the Americas.