Although Greece fell under the Roman Empire, the Romans soon realized the superiority of the Greek civilization. Greek philosophers, artists, pedagogues were hired by the wealthier Romans to educate and entertain them. Dancers were also pressed into the service of Rome.
However, due to the different culture and character of the Romans, dance lost its educational value and degenerated to a pure entertaining element. In order to appeal to a wider audience for which the Greek language was totally incomprehensible, the dance got separated from the song that usually accompanied it in the Hellenic world. It ended up being mostly pantomime, which became the symbol of the Roman Age. At the beginning, pantomime was drawing its subjects from the Greek mythology, but as time went by, it relied more on acrobatics, risqu? jokes and lewd gestures. This situation continued with the transfer of the Roman Empire capital to Constantinople. The dancers/mimes were considered of low social status. Because of their questionable lifestyle, the Church condemned dance and started a war against dancers and dance, in general.

However, people continued to dance. Actually, the fact that the Church continually felt obliged to condemn dance is in itself a proof that people carried on dancing despite their preachings and pronouncements. Indeed, it would have been very difficult for the Church to turn against dance with any hope of success, since this was an integral part of private and public ceremonies and feasts.

There were more and more converts into Christianity from religions where dancing was central to worship. Rather than expect these converts to stop dancing at the moment that they were baptized, the church fathers found ways to “baptize” dance by refining and spiritualizing it, just as they had found ways to give a Christian interpretation to pre-Christian myths and symbols. The dances that won the approval of the church fathers were group dances, typically processions or circles in which men, separated from women, performed solemn decorous movements “in the fear of God”. However, the information on dancing at this period is very scarce. Actually, since the byzantine art is mainly ecclesiastical, the references to dance are rare. Some images from the byzantine and meta-byzantine dances have been saved on sculptures, miniatures, manuscripts but mainly church murals in between religious subjects.

In Constantinople, important events were celebrated with large public dances. On the return of the victorious byzantine army, for instance, the citizens thronged the streets, danced with the soldiers and shouted in jubilation. There are instances recorded of people dancing inside the church, on Easter and Christmas, after Patriarch Theophylactos had granted his permission. Other times they danced and sang extemporized songs, making fun of the emperor. The soldiers danced as part of their drill and danced after maneuvers for amusement. The charioteers danced in the Hippodrome when they won their races and, the sailors danced an unmanly dance, full of twists and turns, as if imitating the spirals of the labyrinth.

Though we have so few descriptions of byzantine dances, we know that they were often “intertwined”. The leader of the dance was called the koryphaios (κορυφαίος) or chorolektes (χορολέκτης) and it was he who began the song and made sure that the circle was maintained. Efstathios of Thessaloniki mentions a dance which commenced in a circle and ended with the dancers facing one another. When not dancing in a circle the dancers held their hands high or waved them to left and right. They held cymbals (very like the zilia of today) or a kerchief in their hands and their long sleeves emphasized their movements. As they danced, they sang, either set songs or extemporized ones, sometimes in unison, sometimes in refrain, repeating the verse sung by the lead dancer (καταλόγια). The onlookers joined in, clapping the rhythm or singing. Professional singers, often the musicians themselves, composed lyrics to suit the occasion.

Byzantine instruments included the guitar (κιθάρα) single, double or multiple flute (αυλός), sistrum (σείστρον, ντέφι), timpani (τύμπανο, drum), psaltirio (ψαλτήριο), Sirigs (σύριγξ), lyre (λύρα), cymbals (κύμβαλα), keras (κέρας) and kanonaki (κανονάκι).

Popular dances of this period were: Syrtos, Geranos, Mantilia, Saximos, Pyrichios, Kordakas, etc. Some of these dances had originated in the ancient times and they are still danced in some forms even today.

Tag: Greek Dancing - Byzantine Era