Dance in Ancient Egypt Author(s): Patricia Spencer Reviewed work(s): Source: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 66, No.

3, Dance in the Ancient World (Sep., 2003), pp. 111-121 Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210914 . Accessed: 31/01/2013 09:07
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ncient Egypthas left a rich and variedtextual legacy.Nevertheless,evidence

on dance perse from literarysources is rare, since the ancient Egyptianssaw no need to describe in words something that was so familiarto them. There are a

numberof termsthat were used for the verb "todance,"the most commonbeingib3. Other termsthat describespecificdancesor movementsare knownbut unfortunately theseoftenoccursimply as "labels" to scenesor in contextswheretheysaylittleor nothin literature From casualreferences or administrative ing of the natureof the dancein question.

documents it is, however, to learnsomething in ancient aboutdanceanddancers possible towards Egypt,theirlives and the attitudesof the ancientEgyptians performers.
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The "Scorpion" mace head, depicting dancers performing at a royal ceremony. Three dancers (there may have originally been more) are shown with braided hair. They have one leg raised and would seem to be clapping their hands as they perform.These dancers accompany a scene of the king (named "Scorpion") ritually breaking soil and were therefore performing in a ceremonial context. Drawing by Richard Parkinson after Marion Cox.

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Dancers performingat the Festival of Opet, during which the state god, Amun-Re,traveled in his barque from his home at Karnak to Luxor temple. Photo courtesy of the author.

In the popularculture, dance was somethingpeople took for granted and rarelydescribed.This is, of course, not unique to Egypt in antiquity-references to dance in Egypt from the
Byzantine period to the eighteenth century CE are scarce but this does not mean that dance had ceased to exist. It was only when European travelers started to visit Egypt and the Near East and to record the dance that they saw performed in private salons, at parties or in the context of weddings or street festivals, that Egyptian or other "oriental" dances were described in any detail. There are many obstacles to attempting to understand the purpose of dance and the contexts in which it took place in ancient Egypt and especially in attempting to reconstruct any of the movements involved. The same is true of any historical period for which one has to rely on textual and decorative evidence, but is especially so for ancient Egypt where the conventions for depicting the human form were so stylized and, essentially, static, that any accurate representation of movement was difficult, if not impossible. Virtually all representations of dancers from ancient Egypt are two dimensional. They come from the walls of temples or The god Bes dancingand playinga tambourine. Bes, probablya god of African origin,was shownas a lionusually headed dwarfand was associated particularly withthe warding-off of evil spiritsand thus with the protectionof the motherand childduring childbirth. The Egyptians believedthat his dancing and musicwoulddrive awayevil spiritsand offer protectionto his charges.Reproduced courtesyof the Trustees of The British Museum.

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Scenefromthe tomb of Intefat DraAbu'lNaga.This tomb scene showswomenwearingcalf-length dresses, braceletsandanklets,andwithwhitefilletstied around theirlongflowinghair, dancingin pairswitha wide range of movements,some moreelegantlydepictedthan others.AfterPetrie Reproduced (1909: frontispiece). of the Petrie of Egyptian Museum courtesy Archaeology ColleqeLondon. University

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tombsor fromdepictionson ostracaand papyrus, and they were governed by the artistic conventions of ancient Egypt, which required that the human form be depicted in accordance with a strict canon that left little room for
flexibility or for the artist to use his imagination

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and skill to try and show three-dimensional movement with any degree of accuracy.There is also the additional problem that the dance scenes that have been preserved from ancient Egyptwere not intended to informviewersabout dance, its natureand context, but were carvedor painted on the walls of tombs or temples for purposes that are not always obvious or even

Banquetscene fromthe tomb of Nebamun.Twogirls are shown dancingaccompaniedby a group of female musicians.The two dancers are depicted with much more freedom than was possible for earlierartistsand their bodies are almost entwined as they dance and snap their of The British Museum. fingersto the beat of the music.Reproduced courtesyof the Trustees

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A funeraldance scene fromthe tomb of Niunetjer at Giza.Threeof the dancersholda throw-stick intheir left handswhileshakingsistra.(Thesistrum is a musical instrument withsmallmetaldisksthreadedhorizontally to forma kindof rattle.) Throw-sticks were used by the Egyptians in hunting, to in dance scenes mayindicateoriginsin a ritual"hunting-dance." After Junker(1951: Abb.44). bringdown birds,andtheiroccurrence

intelligible to modern eyes-for example, to demonstrate devotion to a cult, to facilitiate entry to the next world or to show activities that, hopefully, would occur in perpetuity once the deceased had attained his eternal goal. Most of the scenes were never intended to be seen by more than a handful of cult devotees, whether of a god or , a deceased individual. _* IfoWith these privisos in mind, it is possibleto surveywhat however, is known of dance in ancient Egypt, even if a full understanding of its nature and its context must remain unattainable.It should tantalisingly also be borne in mind that the ancient Egyptiancivilizationlasted
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for over three thousand years and,

while it is deservedly regarded as having been a very "conservative"

Acrobaticdancers in the tomb of Kagemniat Saqqara.The young women are shown standing on one culture, there must have been

backwards the otherleg andboththeirarmsraised) to anextentthatwouldbe (with leg andleaning

in real life. Reproduced impossible courtesyof the EgyptExploration Society. physically a -

changes and developmentsin dance

during that time.

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Dancersdepicted in the tomb of Antefikerat Thebes. After de GarisDavies (7920: pls. 23, 23a).

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scene fromthe well-preserved tomb of Niunetjer at Giza. The dancers are described collectivelyas ib3wtand they are accompanied by a kneeling group of three female singers (hswt) who are marking the beat by The costumeof the clapping. dancers in this tomb is typical of the period, with
short skirts and crossed

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The earliest depictions of dance in Egyptare found in rockart and on predynasticvessels and are describedin Garfinkel's contribution to this issue. Egypt became a unified kingdom about 3100 BCEand the political and military stability that followed unification led to the flourishing of the distinctive pharaonic civilization and the establishment of the artistic conventions to which all representations of dance in ancient mace head showing an Egypthad to conform. The "Scorpion" of the period just before unification Upper Egyptian king an provides earlyrepresentationof dancersin accordancewith dynastic Egyptianartistic conventions. On the mace head the dancersare shown takingpartin a royalceremonyand the vast majorityof depictionsof dancersfrom ancient Egyptalso come from ceremonialreligiousor funeraryscenes.

the next seriesof dance depictionscomesfrom Chronologically, tomb-scenesof the Old Kingdomwhere dancersand singersare shownperforming or at the entrance duringthe funeral procession to the tomb.In this period,these entertainers seem to have been groupsof, presumably, professionalmusiciansand dancerswho wereattachedto temples,funerary estatesand important tombsor cemeteries.The collective name for such a groupduringthe Old and Middle Kingdomswas the hnr and they would performat festivalsas well as funerals.Initiallyall the members of important the hnrseem to have been female, with women labeledin tomb sceneswith titlessuch as "overseer of the hnr" of the or "inspector hnr"showinga high degree of organizationand professionalism within the group. One Fifth Dynasty lady,Neferesres, had the titles"overseer of the hnrof the king"and "overseer of the dances of the king."The female dominance of the hnr seems to have ended towards the close of the Old Kingdom when male startto be depictedand maleofficials arenamed(Nord performers 1981: 29-38). Usually the dancersdepicted in these scenes are a dwarf, as in a female,thoughtherearealsomen and occasionally

Dances Funerary

bands across their chests. ...................,::: . The three dancersare led by a fourth who carries a sistrumbut no throw-stick,and are followedby a female dwarf, who also plays a sistrum. Another three dancers face in the nor sistra.The oppositedirectionand have neither throw-sticks entire groupmay be an attempt to represent(in so far as it was possible for the Egyptian artist within the prevailing conventions) seven women dancing around the dwarfin their midst (Anderson1995: 2563). Similar scenes, though the details vary, are found in many Old Kingdom tombs. The dancers are often shown in rows (though this, of course, may simply reflect Egyptian artistic conventions) and their dance would appearto have been very stylized with a limited number of movements. Many of the in nature, as in the scene movements depicted are "acrobatic" from the tomb of Kagemni.Here the dancersare accompanied by women clapping (and probablysinging) as in so manyother of dancers.In these Old Kingdom tombscenes, funerary paintings male dancerswearwhat mightbe regarded as "everyday" clothes with a short kilt. Femaledancers,however,at a time when most womenweredepictedwith long ankle-lengthdresses,usuallyalso wore short skirts, probably to free their legs for the dance. as if naked,orwithjusta beltaround Occasionally theyaredepicted their hips. Male dancershave short hair and often so do female dancers, thoughsomeworetheirhairlongandtiedbackwith a disk at the end of the "pony-tail" to weighit down and makethe hair's movement more dramatic.There are tomb scenes which show oftenholdinghands,but thesearealways couplesdancingtogether, twomenor twowomen-men andwomenneverdancetogether. One of the most uninhibited depictions of dance to have survivedfrom ancient Egyptfeaturespair-dancers(see p. 113). The scene originally came from the tomb of Intef (Second Intermediateperiod,ca. 1795-1550 BCE) at Dra Abu'l Naga on the west bank at Luxorbut is now preservedin the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The relaxation of rigid state control that always occured during an "Intermediate period" (when centralizedgovernment broke down in Egypt)has allowed the

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Muudancers, with their distinctive headresses, as shown in the tomb of Antefikerat Thebes. These headdresses were made of woven papyrusstalks and recalleddwellers in the marshyNile Delta where the cites of Sais, Pe and Dep were located. AfterNorman de GarisDavies (1920: pl. 22).

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I \ /_ Kingdom to the end of the New X Kingdom(ca. 1069 BCE). They were \ \ \\ iY \\~ often (though not always) shown \'~X J N,j wearing distinctive headdresses, )_) J which make them instantly recognizable. The storyof the TwelfthDynastyofficialSinuhe offersa good descriptionof an Egyptianfuneralinvolvingthe Muu dancers: A funeral willbe madeforyouon the dayof burial, procession with a gold coffin,a maskof lapislazuli,heaven aboveyou, you beingplacedin the portableshrine,with oxen pullingyou, and singers goingbefore you.The danceof the Muuwillbe performed list shallbe recited at the entranceto yourtomband the offering foryou.(Sinuhe, lines 194-195) There were also dancers who would seem to have been of the embalmers.A permanentlyattached to the headquarters demotic story of the Ptolemaic period lists "dancers, who frequent the emblamingrooms"among those to be summoned for a royalfuneral(Spiegelberg, quoted by Lexova 1935: 67-68). Dancers also played a major role in the funerary rituals of the most importantof the sacred bulls of Egypt.The Apis and Mnevis bulls were accorded royal and divine honors during their lives and were given elaborate burials in special cemeteries on their deaths. Their funerals must have rivaled those of members of the royal family and would have been processionalin nature with dancers employed along the route. The dwarf Djeho, who lived during the Thirtieth Dynasty, describes himself on his sacrophagus (Egyptian Museum, Cairo CG 29307) thus:

artist of this scene the freedom to depict the dancers' evident enjoymentof their performance. In the MiddleKingdom(ca. 2135-1985 BCE) funerary dances, as depicted in, for example, the tombs at Beni Hasan, Meir and Deir el-Gebrawi, also often included movements that would than representativeof seem to our eyes to be more "acrobatic" "dance"but we should not assume that the ancient Egyptians and "acrobats" made the same distinction between "dancers" that we do. One interestingscene in the TwelfthDynastytomb of Antefiker and his wife Senet at Thebes shows three women clappingwhile two groupsof dancersmove towardseach other, in front of the clappingwomen. Both groups,each made up of two dancers, are female but, unlike the clapping women who wear long shifts, they are simplydressedin short kilts and floral from the righthave short hair collars.The dancersapproaching while the paircoming towardsthem fromthe left both have long pony-tailswith the weighteddisk at the end. Perhapsthe most importantof the funerarydances was that of the Muu dancers, which is attested in scenes from the Old

Dances of the Gods

wereparticularly Certaingodsand goddesses inancient Thegoddess, withdance associated Egypt. with her son associated Hathor, was, forexample, Ihy, who dancedin Kemon the dayof the burialof I am the dwarf were described with music anddance anddancers ... andwhodancedin Shenqebeh on the dayof the the Apis-Osiris often ... (Spiegelberg 1929:76-83; of the Osiris-Mnevis eternalfestival as having in herhonor. Sometimes beenperforming Dasen 1993: 150-55 and also see 26, 2). pl. instruments dancers areshown musical (sistra carrying mirrors menatas or andclappers) orobjects (such The presence of ritual dancers at a funeral, whether for a that toHathor. Another were sacred collars) Egyptian king, a sacred bull or a private individual, seems to have been and Bes,wasoftenshown god,thepopular dancing very important to the ancient Egyptians.The dancers helped withBes musical instruments. This association the mourners to'bid farewell to the deceased and also playing his passinginto the next world. celebrated in the dwarves account of Egyptian for popularity may dancescenes. Dwarves,as we have seen, were Dances at the shown funerals ofindividuals, Temple frequently dancing An early textual reference to a "divine"dance in dynastic andthey were involved intemple dances. Egyptcomes from the well-known letter written by the six-year
to his official Harkhufwho had old king Pepi II (ca. 2087 BCE)

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at Thebes. The Muudancers originally Muudancers performingat the Delta shrines.Scene from the tomb of Rekhmire representedthe ancestors of the deceased who greeted the funeralcortege after it had made a sacred pilgrimageto the ancient Delta cities of Sais, Pe and the Muuperformed Dep. Whetherthe deceased had actuallybeen taken on the pilgrimageor was just regarded as havingdone so magically, when the funeralprocession reachedthe tomb. AfterNormande GarisDavies (1943: pl. XCII).

led an expedition into what is now Sudan to bringback to the court at Memphisa dwarf,in this case possiblya pygmy,for the "dances of the gods." Harkhuf's success in acquiring the "dwarf" earned him a personal letter of thanks from the excited young king which Harkhufproudlyhad carved on his tomb walls: Youhave said in this letter of yoursthat you have broughta dwarffor the dances of the god ... come north to the palace
immediately ... bring this dwarfwith you ... alive prosperousand

the heartandgladden forthe dancesof the god,to distract healthy the heartof the Kingof Upperand LowerEgypt... MyMajesty wishes to see this dwarfmore than the produceof the mining orof Punt. region We don't know exactly what the "dancesof the gods"were, but presumably they took place in a religiouscontext, probably within a temple precinct. Most Egyptiantemples seem to have had dancers and musicians on their staff. A papyrusfrom the TwelfthDynasty temple of Senwosret II at Lahun describesin tabular form the occasions on which dances were performed with the name and nationalities of the singers and dancers/acrobats concerned. From this we learn that the temple employed Asiatic and Nubian performers,in addition to Egyptians.These dancers were paid to performat religious feastivals to mark the end of the old year, the New Year,the coming of the annual inundation, the full and new moon and the feasts of specific gods (Griffith1898: 59-62). Most of the ritualsof Egyptian state religiontook place within the temple itself, to which only the priests and the king were allowed entry, so the temple singers and dancers would have only forthe eyes of the priestsand the godswhom they performed served.Howeverordinary wereableto watchdancesfor Egyptians the gods on the occasionof publicreligiousfestivals,which often took the formof processions. It was standard practiceat Egyptian

cult templesforthe divineimageto be brought out of its shrineand carriedout of the templeat the time of importantfeasts.Usually placed in a sacred barque and carriedon the shoulders of the the divineimagewouldprocessaroundthe god'slocalarea, priests, orbe takento visitothergodsin neighboring towns.The procession the sacredbarqueincludeddancers/acrobats as in accompanying the importantfestivals at Thebes (modern Luxor) in the New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1069 BCE). In addition to the "Festivalof Opet" there was the "Festivalof the Valley"when Amun-Re's imagecrossedthe riverNile to visit the royalmortuary templesof the west bank. Scenes of both festivals, depicted in tombs and the procession. temples,showdancers/acrobats accompanying The occasions on which dancers, musicians and singers have performedwithin an Egyptiantemple would, presumably, been very formal and, one imagines, somewhat sedate in nature. The entertainers would have been called upon to praisethe god or goddess at particularfestivalsthroughoutthe year and their performances would have been witnessed by only a small select group of priests and temple officials. However, when the divine image was taken out of the temple at the time of more public feasts, then the entertainers, including dancers and acrobats,who performedas part of the god's procession would have been seen by the large crowds who gathered to watch what must have been one of the most impressive occasions in the local calendar. Dancing on such occasions, in the open air,might well have been less inhibited than it normallywas inside the peacefulsanctityof the temple. Although most of the depictions of dance which have survived from ancient Egypt relate to funerary or religious rituals,there is sufficientevidence to show that dance was not confinedto ritualcontexts and playeda veryreal,and important, role in the life of ordinary Egyptians. Ancient Egypt had no theatricaltradition,with the possibleexception of mythological

Dancein Everyday Life

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at religious feasts,and any publicentertainment playsperformed as such must have been limited in scope at a time when most people probably rarely strayed far from their home town or on festiveoccasionswouldhave been to a village.Entertainment extent "homemade" and provided either by membersof large the celebrant's or family by hiringprofessional performers. In additionto scenes of funerary and temple cult dances, the also showed dance as it occured in secularsituations, Egyptians particularly in the New Kingdom, essentially at private entertainments, and it is from these depictions, less rigid in style and convention than those in formalreligiousor funerary scenes, that we can learn most of the context of dance in the lives of ordinarypeople in ancient Egypt, and can attempt to reconstruct the situations in which dance occurred and the natureof the dance itself. It must, however,alwaysbe borne in mind that even these "domestic" scenes served a funerary purposesince most of them arefound on the decoratedwallsof tombs and depict an idealisedview of the next world-a world in which good living and entertainmentwas to be anticipated. Dance in a domestic context is shown in scenes from the Old Kingdom to the end of the New Kingdom. Its absence from later tomb decoration is a reflection of the different nature of funerarydecoration after the New Kingdom, when the "dailylife" scenes that previously had been regarded as essential,were replacedby more religiousthemes. Dancersin tomb scenes at privatebanquetsare often shown with accompanying musicians clapping hands or playing instruments. The most elaborate of these scenes is that from the tomb of Nebamun at Thebes, now in the BritishMuseum. Both dancersshown are virtuallynaked wearingonly a narrow belt around their hips, and jewelry.In the register above the

dancersand musiciansis their audience, who would, of course have been on the same level as the dancers-Egyptian artistic convention could not show them all in one register, as this would have obscured parts of or whole figures. Dancers in these New Kingdom tomb scenes are usually women and the musicians are also often women, though men can be found playingto accompanyfemale dancers.The Egyptiansseem not to have had any form of musical notation so we cannot know what ancient Egyptianmusic sounded like, any more than we can reconstructdance movementswith any degreeof accuracy, but percussiveinstrumentscertainlyplayeda majorrole. In the earlier periods, most dancers were accompanied only by percussiveinstrumentsor by clapping.The introductionin the New Kingdom of a greater variety of stringed instruments, such as the lute and the lyre, would have increased the range of music available and may in turn have influenced the movementsof dancers. Although in earlier periods dancers were usually shown wearing skirts or dresses, by the New Kingdom they are more scantilly dressed, often with just a scarf or band around their hips, though sometimes with what would seem to be a diaphonous robe on top-their bodies are clearly visible through the transparentcloth. Their hair, or a wig, is usually long and loose and the dancer's head could be topped by the cone of scented beeswax, which the Egyptians liked to have melt over their heads duringentertainment. Dancers are also usuallybejeweled, with heavy floral collars, bracelets, anklets and long dangling earrings. Their eyes are always heavily outlined with kohl. The impression is certainly given that these are professional performers, dressed for their part. Nubians (from the very south of Egypt or from what is now northernSudan) were (_ often shown dancing > 5 .t \,_ with other Egyptian A- / dancers or musicians, the difference in skin tones being accurately depicted. These Nubians probably performed a different, perhapsmore African, dance which may have seemed more exotic to Egyptian

Musicians and a Nubian dancer as shown in the

tombof Djeserkaresoneb. Thelittle

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eyes. A famous scene (now

destroyed)fromthe tombof

Scenes ersinTomb 1CI The Depiction of Darnci

Djeserkaresoneb at Thebes shows a small Nubian girl found in manycultures and Dancers were often del ted, accordingto Egyptian pict with a of dancing group are known to have existed artistic conventions, i n ( one register while their female Egyptian musicians. in ancient Egypt.A story audience was shoun in c)th erregisters. The audience about the divine births of The scene was a copy of one the kings of the Fifth could be made up both o,fn en and women,but they in the the nearby tomb of nearby tomb with the exception were seated and grouped sep how some ,arately, Dynasty describes Amenhotep-Siese (Davies This es. cot married 1923: pl. V), illustrating the goddesses and a god should, course, of of prominent upl in which themselves as a as with the celebratec is cene from the tomb of disguised way Egyptian artists often worked from group of traveling musicians Nebamun (page 113), beinterpreted as a scene of with little "patterns" and dancers. They carried dancersand musiciansin themidst of a party,probably with them clappers and freedom of choice as to 7 th d by bys ree sides the dierssistra. matter and Although the group style. subject in did not the the actually perform in Interestingly copy the story, they did assist at tomb of Djeserkaresoneb is the birth of the triplets who would become the first three more skillfully executed than the original. Dancers would also have performedout of doors (as indeed kings of the Fifth Dynasty and were rewarded by the in modern where there was more do grateful father with a bag of grain, which they asked to be they frequently Egypt) A is shown in the Theban tomb outdoor scene kept safely for them until they returned from their travels. space. less-rigid Since there was no currency in ancient Egypt, itinerant of Huy (reign of Tutankhamun) where a group of women is shown dancing to welcome Huy home fromhis travels. performers, like everyone else in the country, would have In however lead to been out of doors could Performing problems. paid "in kind." Even by the Graeco-Roman period, after money had been introduced into Egypt, payments to the narrowstreets of an Egyptianvillage, spectators (again as dancers were still made partly in kind. can be seen today) would have crowded into any vantage from of stories or Can we say anything of the social status of professional often the windows watching upper point, near This led to a at the of entertainers, including dancers, in ancient Egypt? Today, village Senepta, tragedy roof-tops. out from a when an old slave leaning Oxyrhynchus, eight-year professional dancers, though they may be admired for their at a roof to watch the "castanetdancers"who were performing skills, are not accorded high status in Egyptianvillage society. They travel around, often in the r /L?CIC?I'I?C I*?l----IC*?IICC .. of men to whom they .^ ....company ,Yi la c :~-% are not related and may stay away ?^: ,o, Si *\t d rr c rr rr rr rrr rr rr IIII1LI.-Il*IJ - - I ?from home at night-behavior on ... ...... which society frowns. The fact /S J 1 .i that r^-? performersin ancient tombare sometimes identified in 1~\ dt Xscenes Ir5;-s""I, a\ h r~ the accompanying texts as ;\/e-:_.7 of the tomb-owner's fmembers I< AS { family might suggest that to be a musician or a dancer was socially (it ' but in such cases, ++>>acceptable, are these S unlikely to be /ll\ \ A-.t, professionalperformers.They are : relations of the deceased dancing for him in private in both his

nearbyhouse, fell to his death (p xy 475; 182 CE). Itinerant performers are

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Dancers welcoming Huy home. Scene in the tomb of Huy at Thebes. At this time, at the end of the Amarna Period, artistic conventions were more relaxed and the artist took advantage of this to try and give more of an impression of the movements of the dancers. After Nina de Garis Davies (1926: p. XV).

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Professional Dancersof AncientEgypt

The best evidence for the lifestyle of professional dancerscomesfrom late in ancientEgyptianhistory. A papyrus found at the Graeco-Roman city of Arsinoe describes how a "castanet dancer" A similar written somethirty also papyrus, yearsearlier (krotalistria) named Isidora was engaged by a the describes entertainers time called (this engagement of woman called Artemisia to performin her village, Arsinoe to in the city of orchestriai) from perform with another dancer: together the same rate Bacchias, interestingly for of pay (36 drachmas a as that to Isidora a day) ToIsidora, castanet Artemisia the offered generation dancer, from of village of later. It should be that this rateseems noted, however, I request thatyou, assistedby anothercastanet daily Philadelphia. withthedaily rate(lessthan3 dancer-total two-undertaketoperform at thefestival at my generous compared average that laborers received at the time. The higher house withthe24thof themonth forsixdaysbeginning of Payni drachmas) andsingers to theold calendar, the according you (two) to receiveas pay 36 rateof payfor dancers probably reflected drachmas each and we to in addition and uncertain nature their 4 parttime for day, furnishyou of employment.
earthly and his eternal home and they should not be equated with public performers, just as modern Egyptian women will dance in the privacy of their own homes for their family but would never performfor strangersin public. We must also remember that these tomb scenes were not intended ever to be seen, except by family membersbringing offerings to the tomb chapel. Templeperformers-dancers, musiciansand singers-would have been accordedhigh status in line with their dedicationto the service of the gods but it is possible that professional performers might not have been so highly regardedin ancient Egyptiansociety.

artabas and24 pairsof bread andon condition loaves, of barley or ornaments are that,ifgarments gold down,we further brought willguardthesesafely,and thatwe willfurnishyou withtwo whenyou comedownto us and a likenumber when donkeys 1924: 134-44) yougo backto thecity.(Westerman

HasAncient Dance Survived Egyptian Times? intoModern

Egypt, as noted above, is a very "conservative" country and many similaritieswith ancient activities can still be seen in Egypt, even today. Dancing, with or without engaging professionalentertainers, was certainly important as a means of celebration in ancient Egypt as it is in modern Egypt.Only a drum is needed or, if no instrument is available, a flat surface, for someone to mark the beat and people will start dancing. Can we make any attempt to interpret the movements and steps of ancient Egyptian dance, and if so, can they be compared with those that can be seen today? In 1935 Irena Lexova, the daughter of a Czech Egyptologist, attempted this exercise and her interesting little book on the subject has recently been reprinted.She makes an important point that must always be borne in mind when trying to assess Egyptian dancing scenes in that the draughtsmen must often have selected for portrayalthose movements and steps that were the simplest to draw or the most easily represented in accordance with the conventions of Egyptian art. As in the case of the Theban tombs of Amenhotep Si-

A professionaldancer with the bride'sfather at a village wedding in the Nile Delta in 1993. Anyone who has seen Egyptiansdancingfor sheer pleasureat village weddings or at street festivals will know that, even if the musicis differentand the movements have changed, the Egyptian joy of the dance, whichfirst developed over five thousand years ago, is stillthere for all to see. Photo by PennyWilson.

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ese and Djeserkaresoneb,they also would have worked from "patterns"of typical scenes so that there was a limit to the sponteneity possible for the Egyptianartist. Lexova had little admiration for or sympathy with the dances of "modern" (1930s) Egypt as witnessed by her and her father, and dismissed any similarity between the dances she had reconstructed from ancient depictions and what she described as the 'angular movements in bending of limbs, witnessing to jerky movements" and "those tasteless movements and postures" of dance as practiced in Egypt in the twentieth century. Certainly in its most obvious and commercial form, usually known as "belly-dancing," dance in Egypt today can seem far-removedfrom the graceful lines of New Kingdomdancers. Could anything have survived in Egypt today of the dance depicted on the walls of ancient temples and tombs? This is really impossible to say, though some of the ancient dancers have similarities to performers of "modern" Egyptian or oriental dancing (raqssharqi).The emphasis on hip-movements, as shown by the many depictions in antiquity of dancers with scarves or belts around their hips, for example, is one of the essential similarities between ancient and modern Egyptian dancing. However the relationship between the hieroglyphic script and accompanying scenes must always be borne in mind. Figures in Egyptian wall scenes often served as a kind of pictographic determinative to the accompanying text. The intention of the artist would, therefore, have been to show a figure that was recognizably "dancing" rather than to depict accurately specific movements as made by genuine performers. Thus dancers were shown in distinctive "dancing"poses, with their arms raised and often with one leg bent, or one foot resting on its toes as if the dancer was about to move. The actual steps and movements of ancient dance in Egypt might have been quite different from those depicted in tomb or temple scenes. Since the time of the pharaohs,Egypthas been subject to a great deal of outside influence and modern raqs sharqihas developed over several centuries. In its present form, it reflects the merging of the ancient traditions with those of the Arab world, introduced after the coming of Islam to Egypt (641 CE). In recent centuries dance in Egypt, and throughout the near east, has also been influenced by contact with "western" music and movement. Ancient Egyptian art was possibly the least effective medium for showing the spontaneity of dance and the enjoyment of its participants. Dance just for the pleasure of it was hardly ever depicted, but ancient Egypt would have been a strange and unusual country if dancing for pleasure had not existed and despite the conventions of Egyptian art, this love of dancing does sometimes show through. Even the Egyptian artist, governed by his formal conventions and rigid grids, could not totally obscure the spirit of the dance.

References
R. Anderson, 1995 Music and Dance in Pharaonic Egypt. Pp. 2555-68 in Civilizations of theAncientNear East,Vol. IV,edited by Jack M. Sasson.New York: Scribner's. Dasen,V 1993 Dwarfs in Ancient andGreece. Oxford: Clarendon. Egypt

deGaris Nina Davies,

TheTomb of Huy,Viceroy of Nubiain theReign of Tutankhamun (No. 40). London: EgyptExploration Society. de GarisDavies,Norman 1920 TheTomb I andof HisWifeSenet Vizier of Antefoker of Sesostris (No. 60). London: Society. EgyptExploration 1923 TheTombs theFourth (Nos.75 and of TwoOfficials of Tuthmosis 90). London: Society. Egypt Exploratioin E LI. Griffith, 1898 Hieratic andGurob. London: Papyri fromKahun Quaritch. H. Junker, 1951 GizaX. Vienna:RudolfM. Rohrer. Lexova,I. 1935 Ancient Egyptian Dances. Prague: Oriental Institute. DoverPublications Mineola,New York: 2000). (Reprinted: Nord,D. 1981 The Termhnr:"Harem" or "Musical Performers"? Pp. 29-38 in Studies in Ancient theAegean andtheSudan: in Essays Egypt, Honorof DowsDunham,edited by W. K. Simpsonand E. S. Meltzer. Boston:Museum of FineArts. W.M. F Petrie, 1909 Qumeh.London: in Egypt. Schoolof Archaeology W. Spiegelberg, 1929 Das Grabeines GroBenunde seines Zwerges aus der Zeit des Nektanebes. 64: 76-83. Altdgyptischen Zeitschrift fur Sprache W.L. Westerman, 1924 The Castanet Dancers of Arsinoe. TheJournalof Egyptian 10: 134-44. Archaeology 1926

a^^^^^
Patricia Spencer is Secretary General of the London-based Egypt Exploration Society and Editor of the Society's magazine EgyptianArchaeology. She is the authorof The Egyptian Temple: A Lexicographical Study and Amara West I and II. Since 1982, she has been a member of the BritishMuseum's excavationteam Patricia Spencer in Egypt, at el-Ashmunein, Tell Belim and (currently) at Tell elBalamun. It was while attendingvillage weddingsin Egypt that Dr. Spencerbecameinterested in Egyptiandance (both ancient and modern) and she participates regularly in amateur in theLondon area. Raqs Sharqiperformances

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