Professional Dancers in
Ancient Egypt
Some research issues
Time span: from Predynastic
to Greco-Roman Period
•Predynastic: through ca. 2524
BCE
•Old Kingdom: ca. 2524-2260
BCE (Interregnum)
•Middle Kingdom: ca. 2134-1784
BCE
•New Kingdom: ca. 1570-945
BCE
•Ptolomaic/Roman domination:
332 BCE into 4th century CE
This includes several periods of
invasion and population change
Some research issues
Evidence varies – different
sorts of evidence from different
periods
Interpretation of types of
evidence is uncertain (especially
artistic evidence)
Assumptions underlying texts
and illustrations may be
different from ours
Most work on Egyptian dance
was done in the early 20th
century and needs revision.
Some questions
•Who were the professional dancers
and what was their social status?
•High society vs. ordinary people –
very few records of ordinary people
•What sort of dancing did
professional dancers do?
•Role of dancing within the culture
•What constitutes “professional” –
is it always (or ever) a valid category
within the culture?
•Musicians and Instrumentation and
their reflection on dance
Is it Belly Dance?
If it is, it will be (1) Soloimprovised and (2) Based on
hip and torso articulation.
Look for:
•Costuming emphasizing hips?
•Crotala?
•Celebratory occasions?
•Dancers engaged in different
movements?
•Vocabulary associated with
hip articulation?
Contexts
•Sacred occasions: temple
positions and rituals, funeral
rituals, both depicted and
described
•Secular events: depicted
and described
•Overlap of sacred and
secular
•Idealization of both in
tomb paintings
Predynastic Egypt
3800-3500 BCE
Predynastic Egypt
Predynastic Egypt
Solo female dancers?
Barque = sacred occasion or festival?
Significance of male figures?
Predynastic Egypt
An Old Kingdom example of raised arms as a
convention for dance
Acrobatic Dancers
Depiction of Acrobatic dancers from the Red Chapel at Karnak, receptacle of
the barque of Amon.
Context:
Celebration of
Amon, journey
of the barque
Acrobatic Dancers
•Level of skill may indicate professional training
•What status of women does this imply? Aristocratic women?
•Women attached permanently to temples for dance and
other services?
Acrobatic Dancers
An old kingdom tomb
painting (l) and a shard
of pottery (below).
These positions occur
elsewhere too.
What do they show about
dance?
Can we interpret either the
action they show or their
meaning?
Acrobatic Dancers
Related
positions in the
depiction of
acrobatic(?)
dance.
Interpretation?
The hnr
The hnr was a group of musicians and dancers who provided
services for both cult and non-cult activities. Old kingdom hnr
seemed mostly women; later men are attested as well.
Singers who “daily rejoice the heart of the king with beautiful
songs …”-
Choreographies?
In many instances unity rather than
spontaneity is emphasized
Status
“There is no evidence that female
musicians in Egypt were thought
to be of disreputable character. . .
The indication of status that is
associated with musicians is also
indicated by the presence of many
women of the upper classes and
the royal family who served as
musicians in temples as well as in
the royal residence.”
Emily Teeter, “Female Musicians in
Egypt.”
Status
Throughout Egyptian
history, women of high
status are depicted as
musicians.
No similar depictions as
dancers.
Women musicians may have
achieved “star” status:
musicians’ names preserved
in hieroglyphic “labels.”
Not so dancers.
Is this a real difference in
status?
Status
Some dancers are
shown nude. Is nudity
a status determinative
in art?
Probably not, as
nudity is shown in
many situations,
including even highstatus women.
Here 3 musicians are
shown in varying
states, presumably
without status
differentiation
Status
Music and
dance both
evoke
sensuality
and pleasures
for the taking
– are women
excluded as
consumers of
pleasure, and
depicted only
as providers
for men?
Or are women’s roles in creating celebratory atmospheres
respected and counted as a positive element overall?
Redjedet
The story of Redjedet explains the birth of the three first
rulers of the fifth dynasty. Ra sends three goddesses (Isis,
Hathor and Nephthys) to oversee the birth, impersonating a
group of dancer/ musicians.
tomb of Akhenaton
So these gods set out
and they made their
appearance as that of
musicians, while Khnum
was with them as
porter. When they
arrived at the home of
Userre, they found him
standing, (his) loin cloth
upside down.
Redjedet
They held out their menat and sistra and he said to them: "My
wife, behold, she is a woman suffering from labour pains".
They said: "Let us see her, for behold, we know about child
bearing".
Redjedet
And he said to them:
"Proceed".
They entered to
Redjedet, locking the
room behind her and
themselves. Isis
placed herself before
her, Nephthys
behind her and
Heqet hastened the
birth.
This child rushed forth onto her arms, a child of one cubit (in
length), strong of bones, his limbs covered with gold and his
headdress of true lapis lazuli.
Redjedet
These gods came out, having
delivered Redjedet from child
birth and they said: "May your
heart rejoice, Userre, for three
children are born to you".
And he said to them: "My
ladies, what can I do for you?
Please, give this sack of barley
to your porter and take it in
exchange for some beer".
Khnum loaded himself with
the sack of barley and then
they went back to the place
whence they came.
Redjedet
... The maidservent went
down but when she opened
the room, she heard the
sound of singing, music,
dancing, shouting and
everything that is done for a
king in the room. She went
and she repeated all that she
heard to Reddjedet. She
the walked around in the
room, but she did not find
the place where it was done.
Solo-Improvised Dance
Do we find the equivalent of
“belly dancing”?
What is “belly dancing”
Folk form of “solo-improvised
dance based on torso
articulation,” as performed by
dancers for audiences
Can we find solo-improvised
dance, and if so, determine the
technique used?
Solo-Improvised Dance
All the people of all the dwellings
of the court heard (of the
coronation of Hatshepsut); they
came, their mouths rejoicing, they
proclaimed (it) beyond
everything, dwelling on dwelling
therein was announcing (it) in his
name; soldiers on soldiers [...],
they leaped and they danced for
the double joy in their hearts.
James Henry Breasted Ancient Records
of Egypt, Part Two, § 238
Solo-Improvised Dance
Some Greek Evidence
... the rest of the feast of Dionysos is celebrated by the
Egyptians in the same way as by the Hellenes in almost all things
except choral dances.... Herodotus, Histories II
... They sail, men and women together, and a great multitude of
each sex in every boat; and some of the women have rattles and
rattle with them, while some of the men play the flute during the
whole time of the voyage, and the rest, both women and men, sing
and clap their hands; and when as they sail they come opposite to
any city on the way they bring the boat to land, and some of the
women continue to do as I have said, others cry aloud and jeer at
the women in that city, some dance, and some stand up and pull up
their garments. Herodotus, Histories II
Solo-Improvised Dance
… Come northward to the
court immediately; [...] thou
shalt bring this dwarf with
thee, which thou bringest
living, prosperous and healthy
from the land of spirits, for the
dances of the god, to rejoice
and gladden the heart of the
king of Upper and Lower
Egypt, Neferkere, who lives
forever.
From the letter of Pepi II to Harkhuf
James Henry Breasted Ancient
Records of Egypt, Part One, § 353
Solo-Improvised Dance
What are the possible conventions of showing this sort of
dance?
Solo-Improvised Dance
Solo-Improvised Dance
Solo-Improvised Dance
1405-1395 BCE tomb of Djeserkareseneb
Solo-Improvised Dance
Solo-Improvised Dance
Some Roman Evidence
Solo-Improvised Dance
Some Roman Evidence
Because it is meant to show
cultural difference, this image
is valuable in indicating hip
articulation and solo
improvisation in the dance
style of Egypt.
Solo-Improvised Dance
Some Roman Evidence
The scene depicted is probably the Apis festival. Is this a formal event or popular
dancing? That is unclear since the iconography is unconventional.
Solo-Improvised Dance
Some Roman Evidence
•Women are shown
as the main dancers,
while the men clap in
accompaniment or
play percussion (?)
•Is this a real
perception, or
Roman prejudice?
Musical Accompaniment
Flutes, cymbals, and drums survive
Music may have been more like Nubian
music today in rhythm and sound
How persistent is musical style?
Musical Accompaniment
Percussion is a key element of
depictions of dance: rhythmic
clapping by women, or frame
drums played usually by women.
Cymbals and various forms of
crotala survive
Musical Accompaniment
Musical Accompaniment
Here women play lute-like
instruments ...
Musical Accompaniment
Various forms of lyre
are depicted.
Professional musicians,
or skilled amateurs?
Or is “professional” the
right concept?
Musical Accompaniment
Several types of reed flutes are played here. Instruments
include flutes and reed-mouthpiece instruments.
Greco-Roman Egypt
Issues:
Greek, Roman and native
Egyptian population mix
Detailed information about
prices, social organization,
etc.
Still little information about
the type of dancing
Possible insight on lifestyle
of dancers
Greco-Roman Egypt
What are these veiled dancers
doing?
•Ordinary women dancing in
processions?
•Professional dancers doing a set
dance?
•Women casting off inhibition?
•A dance, or a moment in a
religious experience?
Greco-Roman Egypt
Greco-Roman Egypt
Contract with Isidora
To Isidora, krotalistria, from
Artemisia of the village of
Philadelphia. I request that you,
assisted by another krotalistria,
total two, undertake to perform
at the festival at my house for six
days beginning with the 25th of
the month Payni according to the
old calendar, and you two to
receive as pay 36 drachmas for
each day, and we to furnish in
addition 4 artabas of barley …
Contract with Isidora
…and 24 pairs of bread loaves, and
on condition further that, if
garments or gold ornaments are
brought down, we will guard these
safely, and that we will furnish you
with two donkeys when you come
down, and a like number when you
go back to the city. Year 14 of
Lucius Septimius Severus Pius
Pertinax … (206 CE)
Greco-Roman Egypt
•Isidora as independent
business-woman
•Works with other dancers
on a loose basis – is she a
“booking agent” as well as a
dancer?
•A woman hires them on
behalf of the community – a
wealthy woman performing a
“liturgy”?
Greco-Roman Egypt
Contract with Isidora
•Usually a “binding fee” is set in advance
•Dancers are expected to have fine
costumes and jewelry (portable wealth and
display)
•Style of dance?
•Dancers vs. prostitutes – Greek vs.
Egyptian?
Greco-Roman Egypt
•Pay is well above the
rate for other labor –
days working is an issue
though –
•Board and
transportation provided
in a standard contract
Greco-Roman Egypt
•Other contracts: day
rates for musicians similar to
other laborers – was Isidora
a “star”?
•How often did a working
dancer work?
•What about her musical
accompaniment? None
mentioned in the contract ...
Greco-Roman Egypt
Hiring Zenobios
Demophon to Ptolemaios, greetings. By all means send me
the flute-player Petous with both the Phrygian and other
flutes; and if any expenditure is necessary, pay it and you
will be reimbursed by me. Send me also Zenobios the
effeminate dancer [kinaidos] with the drum and cymbals and
castanets, for the women want him for the sacrifice; and let
him be dressed as elegantly as possible. Get the kid from
Aristion and send it to me. And you have arrested the
slave, hand him over to Semphtheus to bring to me. Send
me also as many cheeses as you can, empty jars, vegetables
of every sort, and whatever delicacies you have. Farewell.
Put them on board with the policemen who will help to bring
the boat along.
finis