Ancient Egyptian Dances

Irena Lexová

• Verlag: Dover Publications
• Jahr: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486148700
• Thema: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Thema: Tanz

Dancing was important to the ancient Egyptians. One of the few books available in English on this topic, this carefully researched, profusely illustrated work investigates the origins, nature and role of dance in Egyptian culture. Features 80 figure drawings and illustrations adapted from tomb paintings, reliefs, other authentic sources. New introduction. Bibliography.

I. THE TREATISE

INTRODUCTION.

Much has been written about the ancient Egyptian dances.

As far as I can remember, the oldest essay dealing with this subject was written by J. Gardner Wilkinson in his book: “Manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians”, (London, 1837; Part II, pages 328-340). In an abridged form this essay appears in the book by J. Gardner Wilkinson: “A popular account of the ancient Egyptians”, (new edition I.-II. London, 1874; Part I, pages 133-140).

Credit is due to Wilkinson in the first place for the vast pictorial material he has made accessible. The short essay in Part I, pages 133-140, may be summed up as follows: The dance consisted of a succession of figures in which the performer endeavoured to exhibit a great variety of gestures. Men and women danced at the same time or in separate groups, but the latter were preferred for their superior grace and elegance. Some danced to slow airs, adapted to the style of the movements, others preferred lively steps regulated by an appropriate tune. Sometimes when dancing the women accompanied themselves on lutes or pipes. Men always danced with great spirit, bounding from the ground more in the manner of Europeans than of an Eastern people. Dances were accompanied by music, consisting sometimes of several instruments (harp, lyre, lute, guitar, pipes, tambourine, &c.) at another time by clapping of hands only, or by snapping of fingers; in the street by beating the drum only. Graceful attitudes and gesticulations were features of the general style of ancient Egyptian dancing. Some postures resembled those of our modern ballet, e. g., the pirouette was appreciated by the Egyptians thousands of years ago. Sometimes they danced in pairs holding each other’s hands, turning their faces towards each other or averting them. Sometimes men and women performed a solo, marking time with the feet. The quality of the dance obviously depended on the talent and the art of the dancer and on the taste of those for whom it was performed. Comical gestures of clowns were permitted as well, so long as they did not overstep the limits of decency. The dances of the lower classes had a tendency to pantomime, and labourers delighted in grotesqueness and eccentricity more than in grace and elegance.

Women dancers were dressed in long loose robes made of fine transparent material, which permitted of observing the figure and movements of limbs. At times they wore a narrow ornamental girdle. Sometimes the women are represented without any indication of dress and appear to be perfectly nude, but it is difficult to say whether this is not simply an impression caused by the outlines of the dress having been effaced, or if the painter omitted to paint them on account of their transparency.

To banquets and festivals the professional musicians and dancing girls were also invited to entertain the guests by music and dances, which was considered an indispensable condition of good entertainment. In the houses of the rich, slaves were kept, whose duty it was, in addition to other occupations, to divert their masters and their guests with the art of dancing. But it was not customary for a well bred ancient Egyptian to indulge in the dance in public or in private, — that was the privilege of the lower classes. Dancing, however, was a part of education as well as music.

The Egyptians danced also within the temples in honour of their deities, and outside them during religious festivals. This custom was borrowed from them by the Jews, who neither considered it incompatible with the dignity of religion.

This oldest treatise on the Egyptian dancing is quite modest. The author confines himself to facts gathered from ancient Egyptian pictures, and never attempts even to classify the dances.

Note: In a new edition of Wilkinson’s work,¹) Birch literally reprints Wilkinson’s chapter on the dance from the first edition of his book, and supplements it with a paragraph on pictures of dances from the walls of tombs in the Old Empire and with a final remark.

Adolf Erman: “Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, neu bearbeitet von Hermann Ranke” (Tübingen, 1923), writes:

Dancing was not to be omitted from any of the ancient Egyptian festivals, because to the Egyptian it was a natural expression of joy. The farmer, bringing sacrifice to the god Min in Gebtiu at harvest time, always danced. Dancing went on during the festivals held in honour of the great goddesses of joy Hathor and Bastet.

We have little knowledge of these popular dances; at harvest festivals of the Old Empire, men danced having previously put aside their dress except the belt, performing quick movements and holding canes in their hands, clapping them together.

More frequently we meet with dances performed by women of the household, by which they diverted their masters and mistresses. Judging by the old pictures these dances are very quiet and restrained. The dancers followed one after another, hardly lifting their feet from the ground and moving their hands; sometimes other women beat time clapping their hands, at others they were accompanied by airs on harps and pipes.

But in this period already more lively dances are met with, which may be compared with our present day ballet. Also pair dancing occurs, and a picture dating from the Sixth Dynasty has been preserved in which girls, dancing with canes ornamented with little gazelle-heads, are divided — as it seems — into fours. More complicated dances, performed by men, occur rarely. One of such dances consisting of three sections has been known from a tomb, dating from the end of the Fourth Dynasty. The dancers, dressed in belts trimmed with long tassels, are facing each other, holding each others’ hands and executing the same movements. In the first section they are lifting hands and feet opposite each other; in the second, they are standing on one leg and bending the other at the knee like storks; in the third one they exhibit a back to back position as if they wanted to flee in opposite directions. Each section of this dance bears its particular name, because the Egptians saw certain meanings in them. Such dances are not very far remote from our tableaux vivants. These we encounter in one of the Beni Hassan tombs; in one of them two girls are depicted, one representing a king, the other his defeated enemy. On the other one a girl represents the wind, the two others a bush and grass respectively swayed by the wind. The participating girls are dressed in men’s short aprons, the customary dress of women dancers in the Old and Middle Kingdoms showing the body covered as scantily as possible. The dancers wear necklaces, bracelets, rings on their feet and garlands on their heads. The chest is covered with ribbons. Their hair has sometimes been braided into a pigtail, the end of which has been weighted with a ball so as to ensure a graceful line during the dance.

The girl servants diverted their masters and mistresses also with games, neither were acrobatic performers lacking. The span was a known accomplishment to them. One of them, drawn from a Beni Hassan tomb, so controlled her body, that being bent backward in an arch and not touching the ground with her hands, she was in a position to carry a companion on her body. Another one with her head turned downward is being carried by her companion, two others are being whisked about by men, touching the ground only by heels. They are dressed in the customary long robes.

The dancers of the New Kingdom exchanged the men’s apron for long transparent linen cloaks, which more revealed than concealed the body, or wore a narrow belt round their hips only. Dances of this period were more refined. Whereas previously the dancers were accompanied by music, now hired women dance at the banquets beating time themselves w...