Egypt and dance: the dance at the time of the Pharaohs
Since the pre-dynastic era, there are references in Egypt to the habit of dance, widely practiced both at a popular level - for example, among farmers after the harvest - and at a religious level. However, it never involved couples of different sexes. On some red ceramic vases, dating back to the Naqada period, male characters with raised arms are painted in white, in the characteristic position of dancers even in later periods, in which dance scenes are often depicted.
The musical accompaniment was entrusted to sistrums, harps, flutes and drums and was punctuated by the clapping of the hands. There were real dance professionals, especially dancers, who were often part of the staff of the temples and who performed during feasts, religious ceremonies, banquets and funerals. Many of these dancers who, in addition to the normal small step dances with their arms raised, also performed contortion numbers, wore the image of the dwarf Bes, considered the God of music who, with his monstrous appearance, defeated on one leg. demons and misfortunes and that he was, together with Hathor, the protector of the dance.
In the New Kingdom, we also find dance corps from other countries: Libyans and Nubians exclusively in the dances of a religious nature and even pygmies, in those of a comic nature. However, all the dances connected to the various funerary rites were performed, always in groups, only by female elements, with particular ritual gestures.
In some particular religious ceremonies even the Pharaoh himself participated in the dance, as can be found in some bas-reliefs present in the temples. Starting from the Old Kingdom, there were also real war dances, mostly performed on the occasion of the celebrations of military victories. This custom, however, ceases after the Middle Kingdom. Also during the Old Kingdom, as can be seen in the mastaba of Mereruka, the dancers covered their heads with a cap fitted with a braid that sometimes ended in a disc. They wore short skirts and were bare-breasted. Later, however, they danced with their long loose hair, which moved to the rhythm of the music, but always with bare legs and bare breasts.
