DANCING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence;
the Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals; festival
of the Sacred Bull--Music of the Egyptian dances; Egyptian
dance technique; points of similarity between Egyptian and
modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis; the Graveyard dance; modern
imitations.
I
Long before the rest of the world had emerged from barbarism Egypt
had reached a high state of civilization. But the history of Egyptian
civilization was hidden behind a curtain of mysteries, until the
key to the hieroglyphs was discovered. Then, the imposing pyramids
opened suddenly their sealed lips and the world stood aghast at
their revelations. The ruins of Memphis and Thebes became books of
interesting reading. The discovered inscriptions and papyri revealed
the high state of development that the dance had reached in the ancient
Egyptian temples. The first dancing in Egyptian history is recorded
by Manetho, the priest of Heliopolis who lived in 5004 B. C.,--which
is approximately one thousand years before the creation of the world,
according to Biblical chronology. Plato alludes to Egyptian art and
dancing performed ten thousand years before his time. Schliemann, the
great archeologist, maintained that the history of Egypt was written
in various dance-phases, as can be seen from the inscriptions of their
ancient sarcophagi and pyramids.
Scarce as are the hieroglyphic materials, nevertheless they reveal to
us that the Egyptians, during the reign of the Pharaohs, highly admired
the art of dancing. Most of the Egyptian documents or inscriptions
begin with dancing figures. These figures are to be found in the most
ancient records, which proves that dancing must have been known as
an art to the Egyptians not for hundreds but for thousands of years.
Herodotus, ‘the father of history,’ tells us that the dances performed
to Osiris were as elaborate as the music of a hundred instruments and
a chorus of three hundred singers. According to Diodorus, Hermes gave
to mankind the first laws of eurhythmics. ‘Hermes taught the Egyptians
the art of graceful body movements.’ A fragmentary inscription of a
sarcophagus in the Museum of Petrograd describes that Maneros, ‘who
conquered so many nations, did this not by means of torch and sword
but by teaching the divine art of music and dancing.’ The ancient
Egyptian legend surrounds Maneros with nine dancing Muses, which
the Greeks probably copied from Egypt later. Music and dancing were
employed by the Egyptians at home, in social festivals, on the occasion
of marriage, birth and death, and in the temples. Their folk-dances
were as gay and fiery as the temperament of the race. This is best
illustrated in the recently discovered frescoes of peasants dancing,
evidently after their daily work in the fields.
Being worshippers of all the celestial bodies, the Egyptians practiced
in their temples certain astronomical ballets. It is said that Hermes,
the inventor of the lyre, produced from his instrument as many tones
as there were stars in the sky. The three strings of his lyre meant
Winter, Summer and Spring. This gives an idea to what an extent
astronomy and nature figured in all their dancing and music. The Astral
Dance was an imitation of the movement of the various constellations.
In this their imagination knew no limit. The altar, around which most
of the astral dances were performed, represented the sun. According to
the descriptions of Plutarch, the dancers made with their hands the
signs of the zodiac in the air, while dancing rhythmically from the
east to the west, in imitation of the movement of various planets.
After every circle the dancers stopped for a few moments as if
petrified, which was meant to represent the immovability of the earth.
By means of combined gestures and mimic expressions, the priests gave
intelligible pantomimic stories of the astral system and the harmony of
eternal motion. Lucian called this one of the most divine inventions.
It is a pity that all the hieroglyphic records known to us do not
give any adequate explanation of the ancient Egyptian Astral Dance.
The descriptions left by Greek writers are too general and are
frequently incorrect. Various scholars have made efforts to discover
the mystic meaning of the dance of the ‘Seven Moving Planets,’ but in
vain. How much the idea of an astral dance has impressed the European
ballet-masters is proved in that Dauberval and Gardel produced in the
eighteenth century ballets of this character. However, in this case the
performers were not priests but fantastically dressed ballet dancers
who, representing various stars and planets, jumped and turned around
the _prima ballerina_, who represented the sun.
To what an extent the love of pantomime and dancing prevailed in Egypt
can be judged from the recently made decipherings by Setche of the
inscriptions of the sarcophagus of a prime minister which describes
the code of an elaborate court ritual. The inscription tells how a
newly-appointed minister should meet his ruler. He should enter the
imperial hall, dancing so that from his gestures, poses and miming
could be read devotion, loyalty, chivalry, grace, tenderness, vigor
and energy. Pharaoh, in his turn, would meet the minister with a
different sort of dance. The reception would end with the joining
of all the court functionaries, musicians and priests in a great
procession.
The Egyptian clergy exercised a great influence upon the people.
Imitating the court of the Pharaohs, they surrounded the religious
rituals with unnecessary secrets. The more mysterious they made
the ceremonies the more they impressed the people. In consequence
of such an attitude on the part of the clergy, a large majority of
religious dances grew so complicated in their symbolic details that
they degenerated into nonsense. A large number of the Egyptian sacred
dances were based on the cult of Isis and Osiris, the one a feminine,
the other a masculine divinity. This gave the fundamental idea of
maintaining a large number of the so-called ‘sacred’ courtesans, who
took an active part in most of the temple dances. Herodotus tells us
that the presence of these ‘sacred’ courtesans in the Egyptian temple
ceremonies during the last Dynasties is responsible for the downfall of
this ancient civilization.
Most of the Egyptian temple dances were performed by men and women
alike. On the other hand, there existed special feminine and strictly
masculine ballets. Of the feminine dances, the most known is the dance
which was performed during the celebrated sacrificial festival of the
sacred bull Apis. After the black bull on whose back grew naturally
the figure of a white eagle was found, forty temple maidens were
selected to feed it forty days on the shores of the Nile. All this
time the maidens had to practice the great ballet that they were to
perform thereafter. The Festival of the Sacred Bull was opened with a
solemn dance of the priests in the temple of Osiris at Memphis. Then
the bull was carried through the city by the maidens in a spectacular
procession, accompanied by singing and dancing. When the bull was
brought before the huge statue of Osiris the real ballet was performed
by priests and maidens together. The ballet, which lasted for half a
day, was opened with a slow introduction in march form. In this the
dancers personified the birth process of divinities, particularly of
Osiris. In the second movement, which probably resembled a modern
_allegro energico_, were depicted the youth and romantic adventures of
Osiris with the goddess Isis. Priests in fantastic costumes represented
Osiris and his warriors, while the maidens played the rôle of Isis and
her companions. The last movement of the ballet closed with a festival
_finale_, which meant the victory of Osiris in conquering India. When
the sacred bull was drowned in the Nile a violent funeral ballet was
performed by the priests. As the recently discovered bas-reliefs
illustrate, the dancing priests wore costumes consisting of a yellow
tunic and round caps.
While some of the Egyptologues maintain that dancing was performed only
on special occasions such as the above, others are of the opinion that
every Egyptian temple service contained some kind of dance. However,
the hieroglyphic inscriptions of various periods prove that there were
hundreds of different temple dances. Of particular interest is the
recently discovered ‘Dance of Four Dimensions,’ which was performed in
the temple of Isis. In this both priests and priestesses participated.
It differed from the other dances in that the dancers carried along
their musical instruments.
II
Since the art of dancing had reached such a high degree of culture
in Egypt it is evident that the people must have possessed a highly
developed form of music. Though musical history denies the fact
that harmony was known to the ancient civilization, yet the recent
archeologic discoveries and hieroglyphic decipherings speak eloquently
of the use of various instruments in a kind of orchestra, and there are
frequent allusions to temple choirs of a hundred and more singers. Dr.
Schliemann even believes that the Egyptians had their specific musical
notation which was still in use by the Arabs when they came to Spain.
It is only natural to believe that an art of such a high standard
was taught in a school, as the technique that they evidence is the
result of long and systematic studies. ‘It is very likely,’ a Russian
archeologist writes, ‘that the Egyptian academy of music and dancing
was connected with the temple of Ammon.’
It is evident that the Egyptians knew practically every choreographic
rule and possessed a technique which our most celebrated dancers have
not yet reached. Their mimic expressions are superb, as are their
eurhythmic gestures and poses. Since the temple in Egypt united under
its supreme patronage all the arts, it is only natural that dancing
and music knew no other forms of expression, except the home. However,
the court of Pharaohs played a big rôle in stimulating a secular style
of dance, which the Greeks later performed in a modified form on their
stage. Various inscriptions and sarcophagus bas-reliefs depict a corps
of several hundred dancers that was maintained by the ruler. The Queen
Cleopatra was so fond of dancing that she herself gave performances
in a specially constructed hall, dimly lighted and richly decorated.
Here she danced nude to her guests behind numerous gauze curtains,
using constantly the effects of fused light produced by different
colored lanterns. She had a well trained and beautiful voice and played
masterfully on various instruments. Also, in connection with her
dances, Cleopatra used heavy redolescent perfumes by means of which
she put her audience into a ‘passionate trance.’
That the Egyptian dancers knew _pirouettes_, _fouetté pirouettes_,
_arabesques_, _pas de cheval_, and other modern ballet tricks 5,000
years ago is proven by the dancing figures that can be seen at the
sarcophagi at Beni Hassan. These figures illustrating ballet corps are
usual. A common style of Egyptian dancing was the peculiar reverse
movement of the two dancers which reached a rhythmic perfection,
particularly in dances where many participated, that is absolutely
unknown to our choreographic artists. Some dances show great
architectural beauty in their pyramidic combinations. The use of the
hands at the same time with the use of the legs is evidently more in
keeping with a certain style and harmony of line, than that employed by
our ballet or classic dancers.
There is in the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum a wall painting
taken from a tomb at Thebes. The painting is supposed to have been
executed during the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasty, and in it are
depicted two dancing girls facing in opposite directions. There is
plenty of action and agility depicted in these figures. In one the
hands are raised high above the head; in the other they are lowered.
One female not dancing is represented playing a double pipe, and others
are clapping their hands. The accompanists are dressed, but the dancers
wear only a gauze tunic.
All Egyptian professional dancers are represented either nude or
very slightly dressed and the performances were given by the people
of highest respectability. All Egyptologues are of the opinion that
the outline of the transparent robe worn by these dancing girls may,
in certain instances, have become effaced; but others say that it is
certain they danced naked, as their successors, the Almeiis, do. The
view of Sir Gardner Wilkinson that the Egyptians forbade the higher
classes to learn dancing as an amusement or profession, because they
dreaded the excitement resulting from such an occupation, the excess
of which ruffled and discomposed the mind, contradicts the opinions of
other scholars on the same subject. We read in the Bible that after
the Israelites had safely accomplished the passage across the Red Sea,
Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, herself a prophetess, took a
tambourine in her hand, and danced with other women to celebrate the
overthrow of their late task-masters. There are other instances in
the Bible which tend to show that among the Jews, who were reared on
Egyptian civilization, it was customary for people of the most exalted
rank to dance. There is a reproduction of Amenophis II. from one of
the oldest tombs of Thebes that goes to show that Egyptians of all
classes were highly proficient in the art of dancing. Four upper class
women are represented as playing and dancing at the same time, but
their instruments are for the most part obliterated. A fifth figure
is resting on one knee, with her hands crossed before her breast. The
posing of the heads in these figures is masterful. In another painting
from Beni Hassan, executed about three thousand five hundred years
ago, a dancer is represented in the act of performing a _pirouette_
in the extended fourth position. The arms are fully outstretched,
and the general attitude of the figure is precisely what it might
be in executing a similar movement at the present day. It is also
noticeable that the angle formed by the upper part of the foot and fore
part of the leg is obtuse, which is quite in accordance with modern
choreographic rules, while the natural inclination of an inexperienced
and untrained dancer when holding the limb in such a position would be
to bend the foot towards the shin, or at least to keep it in its normal
position at right angles.
From many paintings and sculptures that have been discovered, we may
gather that the primary rules by which the movements of the dancers
are governed have not altered since the time of the Pharaohs. The
first thing the Egyptian dancers were taught was evidently to turn
their toes outward and downward, and special attention was paid to the
positions of their arms, which were gracefully extended and raised
high, with the hands almost joining above the head. In the small tablet
of Baken Amen representing the adoration of Osiris, now in the British
Museum, all arm positions of the dancing figures are excellent. In
one of the sculptures from Thebes a figure is unmistakably performing
an _entrechât_. Other figures go to show that the Egyptians employed
frequently _jetés_, _coupés_, _cabrioles_, toe and finger tricks.
There are reproductions representing dance figures for two performers,
executing apparently a kind of minuet. Between the dancers in each
figure are inscriptions which refer to the name of the dance. Thus, for
instance, one was called mek na snut, or making a _pirouette_. This
appears to have been a movement in which the dancers turned each other
under the arms, as in the _pas d’Allemande_.
Besides the temple dances, Egypt had travelling ballet companies,
giving their performances in the open air gardens of towns and
villages. The nomadic Hawasis whose profession to-day is chiefly
dancing, are undoubtedly barbarized descendants of the Hawasis that
entertained the Pharaohs with their passionate and fiery social
dances. Most of the Hawasi dances were of a sensuous nature, performed
exclusively by girls, either naked or in light gauze dresses. The
themes of all these dances were often so distinctly feminine, depicting
the romantic nature of a woman so graphically, that they were performed
only as a part of wedding ceremonies. In regard to this style of dance
Sir Gardner Wilkinson expresses the conviction ‘that there is reason to
believe that dances representing a continuous action or argument
of a story were in use privately and were executed by ladies attached
to the harem or household.’
[Illustration: Egyptian women dancing with cymbals
_From an ancient fresco (in the original colors)_]
Another secular class of Egyptian dances was that performed by Almeiis.
While the style and subject of the Hawasi dances tended to express the
sexual passions, the Almeiis had learned to be ‘classic’ and scholarly.
The Almeiis of to-day maintain that they descend directly from the
dancing Pharaohs. The romantic element in the Almeii dances remains
within the limits of a strict code of propriety. For that reason the
dancing Almeiis, like the clergy, enjoyed an immunity from the common
law. The Almeiis of to-day enjoy the same ancient reputation throughout
the East and are invited by the Mohammedan chiefs to teach dancing
to their harems. They can be seen dancing in the Arabian desert and
in Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli and Morocco. But their present-day dances
lack the subtleties and technique that their ancestors possessed five
thousand years ago. Their celebrated Sword and Stomach Dances have
degenerated into deplorable vaudeville shows. Petipa, the celebrated
Russian ballet master, has succeeded in composing a brilliant ballet
on the theme of Almeii dances, called ‘The Daughter of the Pharaoh.’
However, excellent as the Russian ballet dancers are, they have never
performed it to the satisfaction of its author.
One of the weird ancient Egyptian dances that has survived and is
practiced by several Oriental races, particularly in Arabia, Persia
and Sahara, is the Graveyard Dance. It is known that the Almeiis used
to perform this dance at midnight on the graveyards of rich Egyptians,
frequently around the pyramids. Though semi-religious, it did not
belong to the classified sacred dances performed under the supervision
of the clergy. Prof. Elisseieff thinks that this dance probably
originated in lower Egypt and belonged there to a recognized temple
ceremony, but the priests in upper Egypt failed to recognize it, so the
Almeiis monopolized it with great advantage.
The Graveyard Dance performed in the East to-day is wild, weird and
ghastly. It is performed by women, dressed in long robes, which cover
even their heads. It is danced on moonlight nights by professional
Almeiis. These are hired by the relatives or descendants of the rich
dead to accompany the wandering soul until it reaches that sphere which
belongs to it. There is much strange symbolism and morbid beauty in
the Graveyard Dance. Just as weird as the dance is the music, produced
from pipes and drums, often accompanied by hooting or sobbing voices.
It begins in a slow measure, the dancers marching like spectral shadows
in a circle around the musicians. Gradually the music grows quicker,
as does the dance. It ends in a wild fury after which the dancers drop
unconscious to the ground.
The dances of the living Almeiis and Hawasis and their imitators give
little idea of the high art of dancing that was practiced thousands of
years ago in ancient Egypt. The modern axis and stomach dances that
are practiced by the daughters of the various tribes of the desert
are crude acrobatic feats and vulgar degenerations of the graceful
and highly developed art that has vanished with the whole ancient
civilization of Egypt. In 1900 there appeared in Paris a supposed-to-be
descendant of the celebrated ancient Almeiis, _La belle, unique et
incomparable Fatma_, giving performances of ‘Egyptian Wedding Scenes’
and a ‘Dance of Glasses,’ which created a sensation among the decadent
artists and writers. However, her success was more due to her beautiful
body and its vivid gestures in suggesting certain erotic emotions, than
to any real art. On the other hand, Isadora Duncan, Mme. Villiani and
Desmond have attempted to arouse interest in the Egyptian dances by
giving performances that they have claimed to be the genuine classic
art of the Nile. According to them, all that a modern dancer needs in
becoming Egyptian is to dress as the Egyptians did and produce poses,
if possible, with the fewest possible garments, that are to be seen in
the ancient fresco paintings, sculptures and hieroglyphs. Then again,
the Russian ballet, touring in Europe, announced in its repertoire an
Egyptian ballet _Cleopatra_, which was to be a revelation of unseen
beauties of the lost ancient civilization. However, all efforts of the
modern imagination are unable to lift the veil of the ages.
Though posterity can catch more accurate fragments in the degenerated
dances of Almeiis, Hawasis and the few folk-dances of Young Egypt than
in the artificial imitations of various choreographic modernists, as
a whole we know but a microscopic part of the vanished age of the
Pharaohs. The few scarce records that we possess of the Egyptian
dancing speak eloquently of an art far superior to anything which our
boasted civilization has yet reached.