Anonymous

“ Of the bal-masqué garden dances, public balls and such-like, he has no intention to treat; they are not classic dancing nor "art," with the exception perhaps of the Scottish reels. Nor is he interested in the dancing of savage tribes, nor in that of the East, although some few illustrations are given to illustrate traditions: for example, the use of the pipe and tabor in Patagonia, the dancer from Japan, winged, like that in the "Roman de la Rose" (fig. 40) , and the religious dance of Tibet, showing the survival of the religious dance in some countries. ”

“ Moreover, the naked foot should be of antique beauty, which in most of these cases it is not. Advertisements tell us that these dance are interpretations of classic music—Chopin, Weber, Brahms, etc.; they are not really interpretations, but distractions! We can hardly imagine that these composers intended their work for actual dancing. One can listen and be entranced; one sees the dancer's "interpretations" or "translations" and the music is degraded to a series of sham classic postures. ”

“ Although the theatrical ballet dance is comparatively modern, the elements of its formation are of the greatest antiquity; the chorus of dancers and the performances of the men in the Egyptian chapters represent without much doubt public dancing performances. We get singing, dancing, mimicry and pantomime in the early stages of Greek art, and the development of the dance rhythm in music is equally ancient. ”

“ Some danced in pairs, holding each other's hand; others went through a succession of steps alone, both men and women; sometimes a man performed a solo to the sound of music or the clapping of hands.
"A favourite figure dance was universally adopted throughout the country, in which two partners, who were usually men, advanced toward each other, or stood face to face upon one leg, and having performed a series of movements, retired again in opposite directions, continuing to hold by one hand and concluding by turning each other round (see fig. 3) . ”

“ Hold the head and body straight, have a countenance of assurance, spit and cough little, and if necessity compels you, turn your face the other side and use a beautiful white handkerchief. Talk graciously, in gentle and honest speech, neither letting your hands hang as if dead or too full of gesticulation. ”

“ Of the Phoenicians, their neighbours, we have some illustrations of their dance, which was apparently of a serious nature, judging by the examples which we possess, such as that (fig. 5) from Cyprus representing three figures in hooded cowls dancing around a piper. It is a dance around a centre, as is also (fig. 6) that from Idalium in Cyprus. The latter is engraved around a bronze bowl and is evidently a planet and sun dance before a goddess, in a temple; the sun being the central object around which they dance, accompanied by the double pipes, the harp, and tabour. ”

“ It will be observed that they have bells on their caps, and it must have required much skill and practice to sound their various toned bells to the music as they danced. This dance of fools may have suggested or became eventually merged into the "Morris Dance" (fig. 50) of which some account with other illustrations of "Comic Dances" will be given hereafter. The man dancing and playing the pipes with a woman on his shoulder (fig. 36) , the stilt dancer with a curious instrument (C) , and the woman jumping through a hoop, give us other illustrations of fourteenth century amusements. ”

“ As, however, the State increased in power by conquest, it absorbed with other countries other habits, and the art degenerated often, like that of Greece and Etruria, into a vehicle for orgies, when they brought to Rome with their Asiatic captives even more licentious practices and dances. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Moreover, technique alone will not make the complete fine-artist: some invention is involved. Unfortunately, some modern attempts at invention seem crude and sensational, whilst lacking the exquisite technique desirable in all exhibitions of finished art. ”

“ 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) .
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 Egyptian origin of the devotion is apparent in the details, especially in the lotus-smelling goddess (marked A on fig. 6) who holds the flower in the manner shown in an Egyptian painting in the British Museum (fig. 7) .
From the Phoenicians we have illustrated examples, but no record, whereas from their neighbours the Hebrews we have ample records in the Scriptures, but no illustrations. ”

“ Perhaps the encouragement of the more brutal combats of the Coliseum did something to suppress the more delicate arts, but historians have told us, and it is common knowledge, what became of the great Empire, and the lyric with other arts were destroyed by licentious preferences. ”

“ 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 ”

“ We know that religious dancing has continually been performed as an accessory to prayer, and is still so used by the Mahommedans, the American Indians and the Bedos of India, who dance into an ecstasy.
It is probable that this sort of mania marked the dancing in Europe which was suppressed by Pope and Bishop. This choreomania marked a Flemish sect in 1374 who danced in honour of St. John, and it was so furious that the disease called St. Vitus' dance takes its name from this performance.
Christmas carols were originally choric. The performers danced and sang in a circle. ”

“ The accompanying illustrations from Egypt and Greece exhibit what was evidently a traditional attitude. The hand-in-hand dance is another of these.
The earliest accompaniments to dancing appear to have been the clapping of hands, the pipes, [1] the guitar, the tambourine, the castanets, the cymbals, the tambour, and sometimes in the street, the drum.
The following account of Egyptian dancing is from Sir Gardiner Wilkinson's "Ancient Egypt" [2] :—
"The dance consisted mostly of a succession of figures, in which the performers endeavoured to exhibit a great variety of gesture. ”

“ Fearing lest it should corrupt the manners of a people naturally lively and fond of gaiety, and deeming it neither a necessary part of education nor becoming a person of sober habits, the Egyptians forbade those of the higher classes to learn it as an amusement. ”

“ The Roman, Dance of the Salii. The Bellicrepa. The social position of Dancing. The Chorus.
One of the most important nations of antiquity was the Etruscan, inhabiting, according to some authorities, a dominion from Lombardy to the Alps, and from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic.
Etruria gave a dynasty to Rome in Servius Tullius, who originally was Masterna, an Etruscan.
It is, however, with the dancing that we are dealing. There is little doubt that they were dancers in every sense; there are many ancient sepulchres in Etruria, with dancing painted on their walls. ”

“ That the original inhabitants of Britain danced—that the Picts, Danes, Saxons and Romans danced may be taken for granted, but there seems little doubt that our earliest illustrations of dancing were of the Roman tradition. We find the attitude, the instruments and the clapping of hands, all of the same undoubted classic character. ”

“ The stately out-door function, in a pleasure garden, from the "Roman de la Rose" (fig. 40) illustrates but one portion of the feature of a dance, another of which is described in Chaucer's translation:
"They threw y fere
Ther mouthes so that through their play
It seemed as they kyste alway."
Fancy dress and comic dances have handed down the same characteristics almost to our own time. The Wildeman costume dance (fig. 41) is interesting in many respects, it not only shows us the dance, but the costume and general method of the Chamber. ”

“ The contredanse represented was originally the old country dance exported to France and returned with certain arrangements added. This is a topic we need not pursue farther, as almost every reader knows what social dancing now is.
FOOTNOTES
Footnote 1: The advice which he gives is valuable from its bearing on the customs of the 16th century. It even has great historical value, indicating the influence dancing has had on good manners. That the history of dancing is the history of manners may be too much insisted upon. ”

“ To this succeeded many works of Lulli, to whom is attributed the increased speed in dance music and dancing, that of the Court ballets having been slow and stately.
The great production of the period appears to have been the "Triumph of Love" in 1681, with twenty scenes and seven hundred performers; amongst these were many of the nobility, and some excellent ballerine, such as Pesaut, Carré, Leclerc, and Lafontaine.
A detailed history of the ballet is, however, impossible here, and we must proceed to touch only on salient points. ”

“ Fig. 21, showing a military dance to pipes, with other sports, comes from the Grotta della Scimia, also at Corneto; these show a more purely Etruscan character.
The pretty dancing scene from the Grotta del Triclinio at Corneto is taken from a full-sized copy in the British Museum, and is of the greatest interest. It is considered to be of the Greco-Etruscan period, and later than the previous examples (fig. 22) .
There is a peculiarity in the attitude of the hands, and of the fingers being kept flat and close together ”

“ Egyptian, Assyrian, Hebrew, and Phoenician Dancing. The Ritual Dance of Egypt. Dancing Examples from Tomb of Ur-ari-en-Ptah, 6th Dynasty, British Museum. Description of Dancing from Sir G. Wilkinson; of the Egyptian Pipes and Hieroglyphics of Dancing, &c. Phoenician Round Dances, from a Limestone Group found at Cyprus, and Bronze Patera from Idalium, Cyprus.
In this work it is not necessary to worry the reader with speculations as to the origin of dancing. There are other authorities easily accessible who have written upon this theme.
Dancing is probably one of the oldest arts. ”

“ 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) .
CHAPTER III.
Etruscan, South Italian and Roman Dancing. Illustrations from the Grotta dei Vasi, the Grotta della Scimia, and the Grotta del Triclinio, Corneto. Funeral Dances from Albanella, Capua, &c. ”

“ In the fourteenth century, from a celebrated MS. (2 B. vii.) in the British Museum and other cognate sources we get a fair insight of the amusement afforded by these dancers and joculators. In the illustration (fig. 35) we get A and C tumblers, male and female; D, a woman and bear dance; and E, a dance of fools to the organ and bagpipe. ”

“ Greek Dancing. Bacchanalian Dance, by the Ceramic Painter Hieron. Description of some Greek Dances, the Gěrănŏs, the Corybantium, the Hormos, &c. Dancing Bacchante from a Vase and from Terra Cotta. The Hand-in-hand, and Panathenaeac Dance from Ceramic Ware. Military Dance from Sculpture in Vatican, Greek Dancer with Castanets. Illustration of Cymbals and Pipes from the British Museum. The Chorus. Greek Dancers and Tumblers.
With the Greeks, dancing certainly was primarily part of a religious rite; with music it formed the lyric art. ”

“ Salle danced in her own choregraphic invention of "Pygmalion," since which time it has been popular in England, when those of the first class can be obtained. There are, however, some interesting and romantic circumstances connected with the ballet in London in the last century, which it will not be out of place to record here. Amongst the dancers of the last century of considerable celebrity were two already mentioned, Mlles. ”