Ghost Dance shirts were made in order to protect the Indians from any bullets the white man would use against them. This would be accomplished by performing the Ghost Dance Ceremony which was done by calling on those ancestors in spirit form, to come into the bodies of the dancers making them immortal. Many would paint their shirts with symbols of their personal medicine so that it may come through for them when it was needed. The circles were the power hail for protection along with paintings of the thunderbeings and other types of symbolism.
If I understand correctly forms of the Ghost Dance go back well before the time of the movement in various forms. I think it is still done today, although not a movement. Kellog refers to a dance as the "Ghost Way" dance. It is my understanding that it is performed when someone has been touched by a ghost.
Back in the late 1800's the Native Americans were starving and suffering on reservations. Some say the Native American prophesy from Tävibo is that the white man would vanish from the earth and all the Indians, dead and alive would walk the earth free from suffering. (I believe that is where the Christian overtones come in.) In any case a massacre occurred because of the dance developing militaristic overtones in the movement. It is one tragic example where dancing until dropping created fear in the government and over-reaction.
"If I can't dance to it, it's not my revolution."
---Possible quote by Emma Goldman but having nothing to do with the Ghost Dance. 
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