Short History of Dance - prehistory and ancient times

It is not possible to trace back the exact time when dance became a part of the human expression. The only evidence of dance created by the earliest human ancestors is a cave art, thanks to which we know what role dance had in the past. It was used for rituals, often imitating animals and nature. As war dance, it was an exercise and moral abyss for hunters. And as entertainment, it helped to release the stress of everyday life and socialize with other tribe members. It is hard to imagine the exact look of the prehistoric dance, but we can assume it had similar features to the modern tribal dance. Here we can see a recording of an African tribe from the beginning of the 20th century. As we see, the movement is based on simple repetitive steps. Dance group creates structures of straight lines or circles. The rhythm is created by the accompaniment of drums. If we compare it to the cave art, we can see it is quite an accurate example of dance made by the first human ancestors. Slowly, prehistoric tribes settled and built first cities. New lifestyle allowed some members of society to specialize. That was the moment when the profession of a dancer was created. Around 3000 BC, first civilization developed. Culture of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and India each created a unique style of movement. In Mesopotamia, popular was a dance for goddess Ishta, performed by the female priestess. The element of choreography often used was the movement in which dancer spins around oneself. A lot of dance elements from this civilization survived through the ages in the culture of the Middle East. For example, spinning movement is well known from the rituals of the Dervish order. However, its roots go back to the ancient times. In this video, we can see the dance ethnologist Farima Berenji. Her choreography can familiarize us with the character of dance performed in the times of Mesopotamia. In Egypt, very important were funeral dances and processions. Dance had a strong gymnastic character, demanding highly skilled performers. In this recreation of Egyptian dance from the movie Ten Commandments, we can see how skillful were dancers. Numerous wall paintings and first written descriptions help choreographer to revive a very accurate example of it. The abundance of sources about dance from this culture indicates how important it was in Egyptian society. In ancient China, dance played an extremely important role in court. Popular were dances with long-sleeved costumes and slow dramatic movements. Most important Chinese philosopher Confucius claimed that dance had an eminent role in human education. Influence of his philosophy and integration of dance with rituals resulted in the development of the somber character of the movement. Dance became symbolic. Every gesture had a different meaning. In ancient India, dance was a sacred art. The oldest tractate about dance comes from this civilization. It is written in Sanskrit language and is called Bhārata-Nātya-śāstra. It precisely describes steps of the choreography and the gesture is called mudras. This detailed language of movement was created by dancers to deliver stories about gods and heroes. Culture of dance was cultivated in Indian peninsula with a huge devotion. As a result, ancient style of dance like Bhārata-Nātya survived to this day. Even though each civilization created different style, the development of the art of dance was similar. Growing societies evolved and divided into the class system. Rich people wanted art to be exclusive. Because of that function of the dance developed, there was dance for entertainment and folk rituals accessible for everyone and there was elite dance connected with religious celebration and court. We can talk about the art of dance in ancient times without mentioning two big cultures from the end of this era. Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. In Greece, art of dance thrived. Philosophers like Plato showed high regard for the educational purpose of it. Dance often recreated mythological stories and had a strong connection with theatre and festivals. Popular were dancers in groups. Movement often was inspired by nature and had soft lines. The golden age of dance in Mediterranean basin ended in 130 BC when the Roman Empire conquered Greece. Romans did not value dance equally. Under their dominance, it started degrading. Roman aristocrats found dance inappropriate for a noble man. The only acceptable form of it was a war dance originating from Greek pyrrhic dance. While Roman aristocrats had high disregard for dance, new religion, Christianity, carried the legacy of Greek dance culture. Christians incorporated a lot of folk music and dance into their rituals. Unfortunately, everything changed in 380 when Christianity became the official religion of the Empire. Roman governors removed dance from rituals because they found it pagan. Even though shortly after, in 476, Roman Empire collapsed, dance did not gain back its position in the church. The new era of the medieval ages began, and with it came new philosophy and attitude for the art of dance.