We envision a drumming experience that is inclusive of everyone who has a desire to participate, regardless of experience or skill level! In order to make this vision come to life, an awareness of some unwritten “rules” is helpful, so we’re going to mention a few of them in the following writings:

• If it is not yours, please leave it where it is. This could be a chair, a drum, a blanket, or other instruments. The owner WILL return for that item, whether it be tonight, tomorrow, or next year. Please help us maintain the trust we hold with our attendees that their things will be safe with their neighbors.
• Please ask permission before playing another’s instrument, be it bells, rattle, tambour, drum, fife, or shaker. In particular, if a drum or instrument is covered, it means the owner does not wish it to be used.
• While you play your chosen instrument, whether it be a drum, tambour, harp, guitar, didgeridoo, please listen as much as you play, in order to best support the fundamental groove that you are helping to create with everyone.
• Be empowered to play -your- rhythm, whatever that may be, from whatever knowledge of rhythms you own. Share it with everyone, so as to contribute new knowledge to the circle. While you play, listen to the musical conversation, leave room for others to speak in it, and meld your voice into the whole in such a way as to allow others the same freedom to express themselves.
• While you are dancing in the circle, please allow slower dancers to move to the outside of the circle, faster dancing nearest the fire. Please don’t stop in place to traffic jam the dancers behind you. Please do dance with abandon. Please don’t touch other dancers without their consent.
• Feel free to make vocal sounds in rhythm with the drumming! Please don’t monopolize the music for your own vocal concert performance. Please do clap your hands and stomp your feet, but please make sure your tambourine and other very high pitched, loud instruments meld with the rhythms of the drums. We invite you to move in whichever direction you prefer, but mind that if you’re dancing in an opposite direction as other dancers, the potential for collision is higher.
• Everyone who is not dancing, drumming, or tending the fire, please don’t feel as if you need to stay still! Clap along with the drumming! Do sway, stomp, shuffle and swing your hips to the rhythm! Please avoid encroaching on the dance space, or sitting/standing in front of other participants; everyone wants to feel the fire and benefit from the energy that the dancers are moving. A circle allows everyone a front-row seat.
• Please do not touch anyone without their consent, be they dancer, drummer, or other energy worker. You are also an energy worker, and please feel empowered to speak to any of the staff nearby, or a fire tender, if you are made to feel uncomfortable. Please do be aware that drummers, dancers, and energy workers may be on their own journeys, and attempting to engage them is a form of energetic touch which also requires consent.
• Do make vocal sounds in rhythm with the drums and others making rhythmic vocal sounds, but please make these vocal sounds as a contribution to the energy, and not a distraction from it. Loud socializing about the mundane happenings of the day can detract from the euphoric experience of the person beside you.
• Please be responsible for your beverage containers; trash and recycle bins are present for your use.
• Please do take frequent breaks from the circle to relax, but mind that your relaxation doesn’t leave human waste near the circle or the paths where someone’s bare feet may tread, or near someone’s campsite. There is a portable toilet at the top of the pathways, marked by tiki torches. Please don’t go down the hill to pee, as these areas are private campsites for staff and volunteers
• Please also be respectful when enjoying cigarettes, cigars, incense, sage, or other smoke-releasing items, as the smoke may be an irritant that could detract from the happiness of others. Some people are allergic to white sage in particular. There are cigarette butt receptacles located outside of the circle.
• Please do enjoy the fire. Let the energy of the blaze renew your soul and fuel your catharsis. Please allow the fire-tenders plenty of space to dance into the circle with fresh wood, and safely out again. Fire-tenders should mind the flow of the dancers, and avoid stopping up the energy by standing in their way if they can help it. Fire-tenders will be wearing work clothes, and often have red suspenders.
• Everyone please feel free to share water freely. There is a clean spigot nearby for fresh refills of containers. Stay hydrated as the beats drive the sweat from our pores and the movement of our feet. If passing around other beverages, please make sure you let people know what’s in them, and be aware that not everyone at the circle is legal drinking age.

Drum Circle Customs courtesy of Sara Balz