It is scarcely necessary to remark that a primitive dance, even when associated with courtship, is not necessarily a sexual pantomime; as Wallaschek, in his comprehensive survey of primitive dances, observes, it is more usually an animal pantomime, but nonetheless connected with the sexual instinct, separation of the sexes, also, being no proof to the contrary. (Wallaschek, Primitive Music, pp. 211-13.) Grosse (Anfänge der Kunst, English translation, p. 228) has pointed out that the best dancer would be the best fighter and hunter, and that sexual selection and natural selection would thus work in harmony.
Féré, "Le plaisir de la vue du Mouvement," Comptes-rendus de la Société de Biologie, November 2, 1901; also Travail et Plaisir, ch. xxix.
Groos repeatedly emphasizes the significance of this fact (Spiele der Menschen, pp. 81-9, 460 et seq.); Grosse (Anfänge der Kunst, p. 215) had previously made some remarks on this point.