Ancient Greeks believed that the Gods invented dancing and therefore they had associated it with their religious and worshipping ceremonies. They believed that the Gods offered this gift to some select mortals only, who in turn taught dancing to their fellow men.

Greek mythology attributes the origin of dancing to Rea who taught this art to Kourites in Crete. Kronos had dethroned his father Uranus. Since he was afraid that his own children might also dethrone him, he was eating them as soon as they were born. His wife Rea, however, deceived Kronos when their last child Zeus was born. She hid Zeus in a dark cave in Crete and instead, she gave a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to Kronos to eat. She also asked Kourites, who were armed half-gods, to dance a war dance around the cave, shouting and striking their shields with their swords, so that Kronos would not hear baby Zeus crying. When later Zeus dethroned his father, Kourites became the priests in the new world. Their decedents continued these war dances as part of their religious ceremonies.

The oldest Greek historical sources come from Crete where an ancient civilization, the Minoan civilization, flourished around 3000 - 1400 BC. The inhabitants of Crete cultivated music, song and dance, as part of their religious life and for their entertainment, as well. Sometime during the fifteenth century BC, invaders overran Crete from mainland Greece, and eventually it was controlled by Mycenae.

Many archaeological findings show that the rich Cretan dancing tradition with no doubt was influenced Mycenaeans, who passed these dances, along with other elements of their cultural and traditional life, to mainland Greece.

Cretan dances were performed in open or closed circles. Cretans were usually dancing around a tree, an altar, or mystical objects in order to free themselves from the evil. Later on, they used to dance around a singer or a musician. Cretan sculptures illustrate dances in a circle around the lyre player, couple dances connected with cults, and the close swaying dance performed by large choruses of women in front of all people. Similar sculptures have been found in mainland Greece and Cyprus and are dated around 1400 - 1050 BC.

The role of dancing in ancient Greece
Phrases here and there in ancient texts show that dance was held in high regard, in particular for its educational qualities. Dance, along with writing, music, and physical exercise, was basic to the education system and many authors extol its virtues as means of cultivating both body and soul.

According to Athenaeus, in Arcadia, the expenses of teaching dancing to the young men were met from the civic purse. The pupils staged an annual display of their accomplished skills which all citizens attended. Lucian tells us that the Thessalians had such a high regard for the art of dance that they dubbed their eminent citizens (????????) protorchesteres (?????????????, lead dancers). In Sparta physical exercise was tantamount to a political creed. The Spartans danced mainly martial dances and drilled to the rhythm of marches. Girls too were taught similar dance experiences which they performed in public. The Spartans not only danced before battles, they also fought with rhythmic movements to the strains of flutes. All Athenian citizens were taught the art of dance and the youths of wealthier families had private tuition in dance, music and poetry from renowned instructors (?????????????????).

The famous general Epameinondas had received such lessons in Thebes and was a talented flautist, lyre-player and, like the tragic poet Sophocles, an accomplished singer and dancer. In the “Symposium”, Socrates not only declares his love of dance but his desire to perfect his skill, as well. The early poets were also known as orchestes (????????) since they not only trained the chorus in their plays but also gave private dance lessons. In both the “Laws” and the “State” Plato eloquently expresses his belief in the virtues of dance. For him, a man who cannot dance is uneducated and unrefined, while an accomplished dancer is the epitome of a cultured man:
“? ??? ?????????? ????????? ???? ?????, ??? ?? ????????????? ?????? ??????????? ??????”.
In his detailed exposition on the education of the young music, bodily exercise and dance hold pride of place. He advocates that girls should be taught the same dance movements as the boys stressing that their teacher should be a woman and her instruction not tempered with Spartan severity.

Characteristics of ancient Greek dances
The distinctive character of the Greeks has been most completely expressed in the choral dance. The renowned researcher Curt Sachs remarks that in the ancient Greek sculptures the observer admires the joyous rhythm which binds together, into a harmony more than personal, movements that arise from an inner compulsion and accord with the law of the dancer’s own body. The Greek dances neglect the pelvis and elevate the beauty and the plasticity of the human body. On the other hand, sexual elements and movements of the pelvis characterize dances of people with low cultural level.

The dominant formation in all ancient Greek dances seemed to have been the circle, open, closed or spiralling. Only Athenaeus refers to dancers in straight lines, as well as a “square- dance” on which he does not elaborate. As a rule, men and women danced separately, rarely together. In the theatre, the members of the chorus and the principal actors were all men. Women danced women’s dances among themselves and dionysiac dances in the course of orgiastic bacchic festivals. Dancers were mainly amateurs, except for those engaged to entertain the diners at symposia who were considered to be of low social status.

Even since the Minoan period, the music accompaniment of the dance plays a very important role in dancing. In fact, there was a single word - ???????- for song, dance, and instrumental music; the evidence suggests that they never chanted without moving their bodies.

Known instruments of the ancient times were pieces of wood, metallic cymbals, bells and shell instruments, which used to keep the rhythm of the dance. They also used sistron and tympani.

Minoans used string instruments, such as the kithara and the lyre, and wind instruments such as the avlos and the syrigs.

Types of dances
The dances of the ancient times are characterized as dances of war or dances of peace. The latter are distinguished in dances of theatre, religious and worshipping dances, martial dances, symposia dances, mourning dances, etc. Each type of presentation - tragedy, comedy, and satirical play - had its characteristic dances, some staid and solemn, some featuring lewd miming with phallic props. Dances cited in the ancient texts are the following:

-Pyrrihic dance (????????? ? ???????) was the most known among martial dances, part of the basic military education in both Athens and Sparta.

-Gymnopaedia (????????????) was the main dance of the Lacedaemonians and was performed annually at the agora in Sparta. It must have been like present-day gymnastics.

-Geranos (???????) was danced in Delos. According to Plutarch, Theseus after having killed the Minotaur in the Labyrinth of Knossos, on his way back to Athens, he stopped at Delos. There, he offered a sacrifice to the goddess Aphrodite and he danced around the altar. This dance included serpentine movements, imitating the movements of Theseus inside the Labyrinth.

-Ierakio (????????) was a women’s dance that was danced in festivals in honour of the goddess Hera.

-Epilinios (?????????) was a dionysiac dance danced on top of the vats while treading the grapes with their feet.

-Emelia (????????) was the dance of tragedy, enhancing the events enacted on the stage. Kordax (??????) was the dance of the comedy was looked down on, and in general regarded as unworthy of serious men. Sikkinis (????????) was the dance of the satirical drama, imitating the movements of cats and danced by Satyrs.

-Imeneos (????????) was the dance of the marriage. It was danced by the bride with her mother and friends. It was quick with a lot of twists and turns.

-Hormos (????? ? ???????) is according to Lucian a common dance of the young men and women who dance one by the other forming a chain. The leader is a young man who shows his dancing and martial abilities through his movements. A young woman follows him providing an example of solemnity and decency to all other women dancers.

-Iporchima (????????) was a combination of dance and pantomime, singing and music. It comes from Crete. Boys and girls together singing choric poems danced it. 

Tag: Greek Dancing - Origin and Evolution