Siesta Key Beach, Drumming Circle - Strutting Girl
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The Sunday sunset drumming circle on Siesta Key Beach is a magical place for all ages. There are the drummers, of course, but most of the action seems to occur in the center of the circle where amongst gyrating bikini girls, jocks, old hippies, and other adults, children run, play, hula hoop, somersault, chase each other and wrestle on the soft, white beach sand. Often, they go flying by in their butterfly wings and shiny capes
I usually take up position in the front row of the circle with my back to the setting sun. No one seems bothered by my photographing. Almost everyone else is doing the same thing.
This girl with her bellowing cape, stood out from the rest of the crowd Looking at her, I saw the 1950 iconic photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt titled Drum Major at the University of Michigan. This has been described as the happiest photo ever made. Here, as in Eisenstaedt’s photograph, the lead figure does not walk or run but struts with boisterous energy and confidence. Bringing up the rear are her happy followers. The girls have found their leader. She is the pied piper of the drum circle.
The iconic images created by the great photographers and artists are built into our psyches and live on, in us and through us.
