The Lake Area Drum Circle never lost its beat. Now, it’s growing, sending the message far and wide for more to join in. Find out about this hundreds of years old tradition Saturday, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Prien Lake Park.

“Since the beginning of time, humans have sat around the fire beating on dead animal skins,” said Damon Thibodeaux.

Thibodeaux said Arthur Hull is known as the father of modern drum circles, and Hull believes even if  a person may not think they possess a good sense of rhythm, and even if it the sounds produced might be a bit chaotic at first, a drum circle will allow people to find their rhythm somewhere along the line. It can be very therapeutic. Some have said it energizes them. Others have said it is relaxing.

“Rhythm is everything,” Thibodeaux said. “I think it is just a matter of paying attention. It’s in your heartbeat, your walk, your chewing of food. You definitely don’t have to have musical talent to join in.”

Thibodeaux has met free spirits to buttoned-down types who enjoy engaging in the bah dum bah dum of the drum.

“It’s not just a bunch of hippies sitting round banging on the bongos. Did you know there are people whose job it is to go around to large corporations and lead them in the team building exercise of a drum circle? There is something about the effect of making one sound from the beat of many.”

There’s a scientific reason why humans love drumming, according to an online Massive Science article. Anthropology and evolutionary biology help demystify the groove. “Humans are a social species, and we love a good beat,” Kristen Vogt Veggeberg writes. The beat of the drum and the dancing, toe tapping or even the gentle head bob it creates brings people together, “alerts our senses and triggers the need to move our bodies.” Or, in simpler terms, it’s a reminder of the popular phrase that came from the show, American Bandstand. “It has a good beat. You can dance to it.”

Bring any percussion instrument to the Drum Circle to participate.  A few will be provided. Belly dancers might be there, moving to the beat, as well as spinners and fire spinners. Spinning involves swinging tethered weights in a pattern. Fire spinning involves swinging fire.