Textiles in Motion: Dress for Dance in the Ancient World

Description

Dress is at the core of dance. It adorns dancers, defines various roles and forms symbolic expressions that, for example, either bind people together or opposes them. It is a communicative tool that gives crucial information for understanding the dance as well as the culture and the sociological effects of a group of people. As such, dress transcends how it is seen visually to address what is being communicated. Nonetheless, studies in ancient dance have rarely taken clothing into consideration. Therefore, this publication gathers articles that give new perspectives and insights on ancient dances and their ancient textiles. Comprehension of ancient dance benefits from investigations undertaken through the lens of dress. And research on ancient dress is understood through its relation to body movement and performative rituals, thus reinforcing the progressive integration of an anthropological and sociological dimension into historical analysis of ancient textiles. For the first time, the two-way transfer of knowledge between dance studies and costume studies is connected via an innovative approach. Among the issues that are specifically addressed are the movement design of dress for dance, its sensory experience, gender and identity, reenactment and reception. The chronological range of the publication is limited to the ancient world (3rd millennium BC to 5th century AD), and the geographical definition is meant to be broad in order to promote a comparative approach and cross-cultural dialogue, as well as discourse between fields and disciplines. Cover Contents Scientific committee List of contributors Introduction - Audrey Gouy Part 1 - Practicalities Chapter 1 - Practical perspectives on dance and clothing Part 2 - Movement and design Chapter 2 - Dancing in flames – fabulous designs from the desert sands. Reconstructing the east Central Asian skirt’s construction secret Chapter 3 - The whirling dance of Baukis: reinterpreting our sources Chapter 4 - Dance and metatheatre in Menander’s Theophoroumene Part 3 - Embodiment and communication Chapter 5 - The unhellenic attire of choruses as image of the ‘other’ in ancient Greek tragedy Chapter 6 - The dress of the dancing lares Chapter 7 - Dance and clothing in ancient Egypt ‒ the earliest evidence Part 4 - Cognition and sensory experience Chapter 8 - Soft cloth and sounding jewellery – sound fields of rich women in Eastern Hallstatt culture Chapter 9 - Flowing white dresses for dancing initiates in the Mysteries of Eleusis Chapter 10 - Fashioning sensescapes through ancient Egyptian dance Part 5 - Images and metaphors Chapter 11 - Dancing around the goddess’ dress Chapter 12 - ‘Wearing’ tattoos in ancient Egypt. Evidence from Middle Kingdom mummies and feminine figurines Part 6 - Modern reception Chapter 13 - Egyptologist dancers – re-enacting ‘ancient Egyptian’ dances at the beginning of the 20th century