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How did Creek, Yuchi, and Seminole dancers use spirals in stomp dances?
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Native American dance
Aztec round dance for Quetzalcóatl and Xolotl (a dog-headed god who is Quetzalcóatl's companion), detail from a facsimile Codex Borbonicus (folio 26), c. 1520; original in the Chamber of Deputies, Paris, France.
The Creek, Yuchi, and Seminole peoples developed the stomp dance to a high level of complexity, particularly in the context of the summer green corn harvest ceremony, or Busk.1
Rather than maintaining a simple circle, these dancers would wind their line of participants into a spiral formation. In some instances, this practice was expanded further, with the dancers forming four distinct spirals located at the four corners of the dance ground. This evolution of the stomp dance represents a significant development of the circular patterns common to many Native American dance traditions.12