LD15: Wagging the Wolf's Tail

Although the comparison is not made explicitly in the story of Lucy's Dance, Lucy's gift to her Apa is a primitive dance stick, arguably the most important prop in the Curukaq dance festival. These words from the Stebbins Dance Festival book recall the role of the dance stick:

"Holding the dance wands, the directors recalled remarkable encounters between humans and animals."

"Each of the three (dance) directors held an eniraraun (dance baton, pointer), also referred to as apallircuun (literally, 'device for providing the verse'), a two-to thee-foot-long wooden wand that the directors moved in time to the drumbeat. Each pointer was decorated with feathers topped with down or rabbit fur that accentuated its movement. Carvers also sometimes appended small, wooden figurines. In some villages the wands held by the two outside directors had crosspieces. The straight central wand, trimmed with a wolf or fox tail, referred to the well-known story of a man who was injured when extraordinary persons in the form of wolves encircled him and beat him with their tails" (xix).

I have to admit: were I encircled by wolves, a tail-beating would would be the least of my worries. Apa's animal encounters here are a bit less graphic, involving a beloved dog rather than a wolf. Lucy's version of the stick is makeshift, but still serves its purpose. I enjoy the fact that the dance sticks, also called wands, were designed both as static illustrations as well as props intended to be moved. I can imagine that the crafting of the wand would ingrain the story of the hunt or conquest deeply in the dancer's mind, serving as the ultimate preparation for the dance, and then reminding him visually of the most important elements in the story as dance progressed.

Traditionally, Apa should have been wearing gloves while dancing with the stick, which is not touched with skin. I may end up inserting a glove, although it is not mentioned in the text. The wearing of the glove might be a nice, familiar gesture to those who recognize it, indicating Apa's respect for Lucy's gift as a sacred object--which I'll discuss more in my next post. To be honest, I've drawn him with a bare hand here because the bare hand is more difficult to draw than a glove, and I'd rather have the more difficult version ready.

DESIGN NOTES

I miss the parka a bit in the final version, but the negative space creates a nice area to rest the eyes, allowing the text to arc down in pockets. With the page division, the content will appear balanced.

I wanted to show a dramatic shift in mood from the previous gym settings. The wand should be a powerful image, bringing a mythological richness to the page. Usually, I keep background colors neutral and drab so that the foreground will leap out, but I decided to go a bit bolder here with crimson. I should clarify, though, that my choice of red has nothing to do with my earlier comparison of a hunted moose to a Target Store. Nothing at all.