Ura is one of the popular traditional dances of the Cook Islands, a Polynesian sacred ritual usually performed by a female who moves her body to tell a story, accompanied by intense drumming by at least five drummers. Moving the hips, legs and hands give off different gestures to the audience to tell a tale, typically related to the natural landscape such as the ocean and birds and flowers, but also feelings of love and sadness. The ura dance has three distinct components; the ura pa'u, korero (legends) and kaparima. To perform the ura, women typically wear a pareu and a kikau (grass) skirt, with flowers and shell headbands and necklaces known as ei. Men during the dance are said to "vigorously flap their knees in a semi-crouched position while holding their upper bodies steady", and they typically wear kikau skirts and headbands. The drumming group, an integral part of the ura, typically consists of a lead drummer, support lead, a double player playing wooden gongs, and two other players playing skin drums. The finest performances of the ura are put on in Rarotonga.