ring shout

noun

1. a group dance of West African origin introduced into parts of the southern U.S. by Black revivalists, performed by shuffling counterclockwise in a circle while answering shouts of a preacher with corresponding shouts, and held to be, in its vigorous antiphonal patterns, a source in the development of jazz.

ring-shout

noun

1. a West African circle dance that has influenced jazz, surviving in the Black churches of the southern US

Word History and Origins

Origin of ring shout¹

An Americanism dating back to 1930–35