Makonde Dancing Male Figure, Based

Mid-dance, knees out, arms up, cups in both hands. He has not spilled yet.

This dancing male figure is Makonde, from Tanzania, East Africa, of carved wood, leather and metal, mounted on a base. The Makonde are widely known for their wood carving and for masked dance at initiations, and figures like this one record a body in motion and the marks of personal adornment. His legs bend wide in a deep squat, with leather wrapped high on each thigh. Both arms lift, each hand ending in a small cup. Metal forms the teeth, brow and a bar on the chest, and patterned marks dot the torso and face. Thirty-one and a half inches high, 18.5 wide.

Try holding that pose for one song.