The Simcha Dancing Circle: A Field Guide דער טאנץ-קרייז אויף א שמחה: א פעלד-וועגווייזער

When the band starts playing at a simcha, a wonder happens on the men's side of the hall: within thirty seconds a circle forms, with rules nobody ever wrote down and everybody knows. Here is a guide to its inhabitants.

The Inner Circle

• The baal simcha: dancing in the middle, with a sweaty smile, being pulled from all sides at once.
• Close family: the uncles, the brothers, the brothers-in-law. They hold hands so tightly that nobody can get in and nobody can get out.
• The uncle who dances once a year: he waits for the slow niggun, and then dances with such fervor that the whole crowd stops to watch.

The Middle Circle

• The "shtick" guy: he brought a bottle, a rope, a pair of jumping sticks, and sometimes even a fire baton (the hall manager watches him nervously). He dances before the baal simcha with a bottle on his head, and the bottle never falls.
• The bochur with the chair: he carries a chair from one end of the hall to the other, with no clear plan, just a strong feeling that "it'll be needed."
• The photographer: doesn't dance, but is always in the middle, and everyone pushes him aside with love.

The Outer Circle

• The one who only claps: he stands at the side, clapping exactly on the beat, and when they call him in he says "soon, soon." "Soon" never comes.
• The hat guardian: he dances with one hand and holds his hat with the other. He has been dancing this way for seven years.
• The one who came "just for a minute": he stands with his coat on and his car keys in hand — and he has been dancing for an hour.

Chasidish and Litvish

At a Chasidish simcha the circle spins with gartels and shtreimlach, and the niggun goes on until you get dizzy. At a Litvish simcha they dance in hats, a bit faster, and everyone knows exactly when the niggun will change. But at the moment the baal simcha is lifted onto shoulders, nobody knows anymore who is Chasidish and who is Litvish.

They are all simply Yidden, dancing with their whole hearts for another Yid's simcha.