As a more experienced drummer, a drum circle can sometimes seem to get stuck in a simple rut and it seems almost impossible to push it in interesting directions without the group losing cohesion. For a beginner, the drum circle is an amazing thing in which they can freely participate without fear of doing something wrong and it can be a most wonderful experience. The trick is for the more experienced drummers to lead the beginners down the same path of discovery that they traversed as they learned rhythm without ever saying a thing. This article outlines some ideas I've had along pushing a drum circle into more complex rhythms. A more experienced drummer is usually relaxed and looking around for cues from others.
Beginners tend to be stiff and absorbed in keeping a steady beat.
They're not in it for subtlety, and the odds of them having the coordination of a Japanese drum troop are slim. There is a little dirty trick I saw someone use once to speed up the energy burn of a group of big guns. After hearing several people complain about what a din of bass noise the circle had become, he went and synchronized to what they were playing and double-speeded it. After playing double-speed for a bit, he laid back and relaxed. They took this as a cue to work themselves into a massive burn of frenetic energy, sort of like lemmings off a cliff.