Dancing in Orsinium

ESO has race-specific dance emotes, which is fantastic. I made a HQ gif but of course online it moves at 10fps, so take this guy's video as an example instead. The prize for guessing my inspiration for the name and description is the satisfaction of being correct :P

Dance has been a vital form of expression across the multitude of cultures that make themselves at home on Tamriel: from histories of Bosmeri ritual dance dating back over a thousand years, to the less complex and drunken missteps inside a Nord tavern, native dances contribute to any society’s cultural identity.

And no culture is as bogged down by the stereotype of “war then, war now,” than the orcs; but as any orc will tell you, our society is not so easily packaged and shipped under a single label. Somewhat surprisingly to outsiders, the orcs of Orsinium take great pride in their most popular native dance: the dabek. The dabek is a leg-heavy line dance that has two variations: a solo performance, classified by a slow turning motion and fluid upper stance, and the traditional partner-line dance that features long lines of orcs locked arm in arm, which is usually performed at weddings or parties. Both will be discussed to some equal degree.

The solo dabek is much less common outside of Orsinium, as few establishments across the continent will agree to sign on an “orc dance brigade,” for the night’s showing, for “fear of just what that could mean.” The dancer places their closed fists firmly on the hips, and begins to almost skip in place; the footwork looks simple enough to the average, uneducated viewer, but is in fact quite complex. The entire dance is defined by its precision timing, which the unindoctrinated will almost surely mistake for random taps and kicks. The rigged chest position is much less important in the solo performance, and the shoulders are allowed (encouraged even) to sway and bob with the skipping motion of the legs, and the hands eventually stray from their starting position. These motions move in rotations of two; after the skipping motion is repeated twice, the dancer begins to slowly turn to face away from the audience, continuing the kicks and taps all the while. Then the skipping is repeated another two times, before a final turn back to the audience. The motions are repeated until the end of the show, but the speed of the leg work depends on the accompaniment and a solo dabek rarely continues for more than five or six minutes.

The line, and party-centric, dabek is similar to the solo with a few key differences that define it as a group dance. The participating orcs will lock arms facing the crowd, and focus their attention on the leader, who is always to the left (their right). The line moves in a circle, counterclockwise to the audience as the leader determines the speed of the dance, and the direction of the many miniature circles and spins the group will do. The kicks and foot-taps of each orc in the line are much more controlled than in the solo dance, both to avoid kicking the neighboring dancer and also to allow easier movement around the stage as the line progresses. As the line moves the dancers inevitably face away from the audience; to make up for this error in stage etiquette, arms will temporarily unlink and the dancers will jump and spin to face the audience, relink their arms and continue to follow the leader. It is a very festive event, and viewers who know the steps are invited to join in at any time, drunk or sober. However if you’re unfamiliar with the steps, or are familiar but not an orc, do us all a favor and don’t bother.