Some 1505 years before his counterparts in Europe, the Ethiopian Saint Yared set up a musical notation in the 5th century for his stupendous range of sacred music with delicately choreographed sacred dance to go with it. To this day, highland Ethiopian secular music and dances are based on Yared’s legacy. The most common folk dance, the esskista has basic elements running through the traditional dances of all the various highland peoples. Mostly based on shaking shoulders, its combination of the religious, fetish and sensuous is as confusing as it is fascinating. The somersaults of the Welaita and the coquettish theatrics of the Omo people are in sharp contrast to this.