DANCING WITH THE GREEKS.
With the Greeks, dancing certainly was primarily part of a religious
rite; with music it formed the lyric art. The term, however, with them
included all those actions of the body and limbs, and all expressions
and actions of the features and head which suggest ideas; marching,
acrobatic performances, and mimetic action all came into the term.
According to the historians, the Greeks attributed dancing to their
deities: Homer makes Apollo _orchestes_, or the dancer; and amongst
the early dances is that in his honour called the _Hyporchema_. Their
dances may be divided into sections somewhat thus: (1) those of a
religious species, (2) those of a gymnastic nature, (3) those of a
mimetic character, (4) those of the theatre, such as the chorus, (5)
those partly social, partly religious dances, such as the hymeneal,
and (6) chamber dances.
Grown up men and women did not dance together, but the youth of both
sexes joined in the _Horm[)o]s_ or chain dance and the
_G[)e]r[)a]n[)o]s_, or crane (see fig. 11).
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Dancing Bacchante. From a vase in the British
Museum.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Greek terra cotta dancing girl, about 350
B.C. (British Museum.)]
According to some authorities, one of the most primitive of the first
class, attributed to Phrygian origin, was the _Aloenes_, danced to the
Phrygian flute by the priests of Cybele in honour of her daughter
Ceres. The dances ultimately celebrated in her cult were numerous:
such as the _Anthema_, the _Bookolos_, the _Epicredros_, and many
others, some rustic for labourers, others of shepherds, etc. Every
locality seems to have had a dance of its own. Dances in honour of
Venus were common, she was the patroness of proper and decent dancing;
on the contrary, those in honour of Dionysius or Bacchus degenerated
into revelry and obscenity. The _Epilenios_ danced when the grapes
were pressed, and imitated the gathering and pressing. The
_Anteisterios_ danced when the wine was vatted (figs. 8, 9, 10), and
the _Bahilicos_, danced to the sistrus, cymbals, and tambour, often
degenerated into orgies.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.--The G[)e]r[)a]n[)o]s from
a vase in the Museo Borbonico, Naples.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Panathenaeac dance, about
the 4th century B.C.]
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--A military dance, supposed
to be the _Corybantum_. From a Greek bas-relief in the Vatican
Museum.]
The _G[)e]r[)a]n[)o]s_, originally from Delos, is said to have been
originated by Theseus in memory of his escape from the labyrinth of
Crete (fig. 12). It was a hand-in-hand dance alternately of males and
females. The dance was led by the representative of Theseus playing
the lyre.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Greek dancer with castanets. (British
Museum.) See also Castanet dance by Myron, fig. 63a.]
Of the second class, the gymnastic, the most important were military
dances, the invention of which was attributed to Minerva; of these the
_Corybantum_ was the most remarkable. It was of Phrygian origin and of
a mixed religious, military, and mimetic character; the performers
were armed, and bounded about, springing and clashing their arms and
shields to imitate the Corybantes endeavouring to stifle the cries of
the infant Zeus, in Crete. The Pyrrhic (fig. 13), a war dance of Doric
origin, was a rapid dance to the double flute, and made to resemble
an action in battle; the _Hoplites_ of Homer is thought to have been
of this kind. The Dorians were very partial to this dance and
considered their success in battle due to the celerity and training of
the dance. In subsequent periods it was imitated by female dancers and
as a _pas seul_. It was also performed in the Panathenaea by Ephebi at
the expense of the Choragus, but this was probably only a mimetic
performance and not warlike.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Cymbals (about 4 in.) and double flute.
(British Museum.)]
There were many other heroic military dances in honour of Hercules,
Theseus, etc.
The chorus, composed of singers and dancers, formed part of the drama,
which included the recitation of some poetic composition, and included
gesticulative and mimetic action as well as dancing and singing. The
Dorians were especially fond of this; their poetry was generally
choral, and the Doric forms were preserved by the Athenians in the
choral compositions of their drama.
The tragic dance, _Emmelia_, was solemn; whilst that in comedy,
_Cordax_, was frivolous, and the _siccinis_, or dance of Satyrs, was
often obscene. They danced to the music of the pipes, the tambour, the
harp, castanets, cymbals, etc. (figs. 14, 15, 16).
[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Greek dancers. From a vase in the Hamilton
Collection.] [Illustration: Fig. 17.--Bacchanalian dancer. Vase from
Nocera, Museum, Naples.]
In the rites of Dionysius the chorus was fifty and the cithara was
used instead of the flute. From the time of Sophocles it was fifteen,
and always had a professed trainer. The choric question is, however, a
subject in itself, and cannot be fairly dealt with here. The social
dances, and those in honour of the seasons, fire and water, were
numerous and generally local; whilst the chamber dances, professional
dancing, the throwing of the _Kotabos_, and such-like, must be left to
the reader's further study of the authors mentioned in the
bibliography at the end of the work.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Greek dancers and tumblers.]
It may astonish the reader to know that the funambulist or rope-dancer
was very expert with the Greeks, as also was the acrobat between
knives and swords. Animals were also taught to dance on ropes, even
elephants.
The important religious and other dances were not generally composed
of professionals. The greatest men were not above showing their
sentiments by dancing. Sophocles danced after Salamis, and Epaminondas
was an expert dancer. There were dancers of all grades, from the
distinguished to the moderate. Distinguished persons even married into
excellent positions, if they did not already occupy them by birth.
Philip of Macedon married Larissa, a dancer, and the dancer
Aristodemus was ambassador to his Court. These dancers must not be
confounded with those hired to dance at feasts, etc. (figs. 9, 14 and
18). [Illustration: Fig. 19.--Etruscan bronze dancer with eyes of
diamonds, found at Verona. Now in the British Museum.]