ABSTRACT
The significance of dance probably lies in the symbolic connection between its rhythm and the pulse of life. While tribal dance varies with each culture, there are a few components that are the same in any part of the globe. In health, sickness, joy, and fear, the dance is central to tribal life. Dances were a ritual for ancient tribal communities. Tribal people danced to celebrate weddings, births, deaths, and the harvest. The collective human consciousness eventually reaches ecstasy through dance. The technique of 'cross rhythm' is made use of in sub-Saharan dance-drumming. Cross rhythm is a simultaneous use of contrasting rhythmic patterns within the same scheme of accents or metres in the process of developing a dance-drumming. Harmonious rhythm in movement and action is the soul of society, as it is the soul of the dance. As dancers move in an expression of their inner feelings, their movements are generally in rhythm to the drumbeat.
