ANCIENT DANCES. In Egypt (lancing reached a state of considerable excellence, for although Egyptian dances were monotonous and 'unim aginative, like those of most Oriental peoples, the use of the body and of the hands and arms was carried to great perfection. Their most im portant dances—those in honor of the dead we•e slow and gliding, but they had also many lively forms. The pirouette in particular was developed in Egypt about 4000 years ago. As dancing was never, at least in the early and middle empires, practiced by the higher classes, its cultivation was carried on wholly from the religious and spectacular standpoints; and thus the social element, which more than any other has helped the' art of dancing, was never given any prominence. See ECYPTIAN Music.
Hebrew dancing was essentially a religious rite. It was an act of praise, and no religious festival or feast was complete without dances. Miriam, leading out the woolen in a dance, is typical of a form used in Arabia to-day. It should be noticed that each sex danced by itself, and that, in this particular, Hebrew dancing dif fered from its Egyptian prototype. See IIEnnEw t-stc.
When we come to Greece we approach the golden age of the art of dancing. Here for the first time it ranked with poetry and music, and, as Lucian expresses it, dancing and music were `the married pair.' dancing had rep resented emotions: now it was also made to rep resent and pantomime arose. Hands and arms were used still more than legs; but an atmosphere of gayety and expressiveness foreign to Oriental nations was created. The Greeks were a cheerful religious nation whose sense of dignity did not interfere with their dancing, as it did in the case of the Romans; and as long as their morality remained unshaken the dance retained its purity. It was at first religious, then educational, and finally popular. There were four great classes of sacred dances—the Enimeleia, the Hyporchema, the Oyinnopcerlia, and the Emlymatia. From these fonr types the later forms were derived. The characteristics of the first were its gentle gravity. strength. and nobility. it was danced without the support of either a •horns or a voice. The second class was danced by both men and women, and was of a dignified, elevated character. The Gym /wi/•/o was a favorite of the Lacethemonians in the festivals of Apollo. It was danced by
youths, and was often a prelhninary to the will Pyrrhic dance. In the last, tin. /,:ilyinotht, the performers wore most brilliant clothes, and this first of all the sacred dames lost its sacred character :111(1 became merely a popular dance. The military (lances came later, and were prin cipally educational. They were divided into two groups: (a) Pyrrhic, and (1) Memphitie. The first was really a military pantomime, and was used especially at festivals in honor of _Minerva. It was danced by both men and wom en. was wild and rapid, and finally degenerated into the rites of Bacchus. The Memphiti• was less warlike and wild, but its general eharacter was the same. On the Greek stage there were tragic, comic, and satiric dances. The costumes and scenic arrangements were often elaborate. and the evolutions were accompanied by choral song. The forms were multitudinous, and the performers became so adept in the expression of emotions that the sculptors and painters of Grecee selected them as their models. Although the pantomime was introduced first in Greece, it never reached the height of perfection which characterized it among the Romans.
Rome had few native dances. The Belierepit was a war dance said to have been invented by Romulus. The Salian dance was the original of many later forms, and was danced by the priests of Mars. Later the Romans adopted some forms front and still others from Greece. One of the most interesting of their dances was the May-clay dance, which corre sponded to the flower dance of the Greeks. It is really the original of the old English May-day sports, for, as in England, the youths and maid ens danced out into the fields, gathering flowers and branches, and returning to the city again to continue their dancing. Upon the deterioration of Greek power. Rome inherited its arts. and among them its dances, which were modified and increased. In the reign of Augustus the dance was introduced into the theatre. It became wide ly popular, there being at the time about three thousand foreign women dancers in Rome. At this time pantomime had reached its height, fable, history, poetry all being perfectly expresAed in mute action. The most cultured persons stud ied the art : but under Nero and his successors the decline began; and dancing became exaggerat ed and licentious.