Dancing was the most widespread art in [ancient] Egyptian society. We can even say that it included all areas of life in Egypt. Dancing was a common denominator in life's joys, sorrows, rituals, and all the activities that the ancient Egyptian did: the Egyptian used to dance during his feasts, ceremonies and banquets, and he used to dance in his temples and religious occasions, as he danced during the harvest seasons and others.
The Egyptian used to dance with joy and joy, and he used to dance thanks to God for his blessings, and he used to dance for him in devotion and sanctification.
And since dance is so important, we find that the Egyptian artist was very keen to record the movements and positions of the dancers and dancers on the walls of his temples and tombs.
The abundance of musical instruments, especially percussion, was only due to the multiplicity of types of dance and its practice on all occasions.
It is evident from the inscriptions of temples and tombs that the rhythm of the dance movement was controlled by clapping with the palm, or with the accompaniment of musical instruments such as tambourines, drums, flutes, lutes and others.
Egyptian families were keen to teach their sons and daughters to dance, and the priests paid great attention to this art, as they considered it a sacred religious ritual.
Perhaps we can understand the extent of the interest of the Egyptian kings themselves in dancing through a message that we received from one of the kings of the Old Kingdom to one of his royal members, who had brought him a dwarf as a gift to the king, after his return from one of his trips in Africa. The king says:
"Immediately travel on the river road to the palace, and quickly bring what you brought from the countries of the gods, for I long to see the gifts that I brought, so take care of him [that is, take care of this dwarf] so that he lives in good health to dance the sacred dances that will bring happiness to the king's heart," "The King of Upper and Lower Egypt", and when he sails with you on the ship, make sure that there are men around to protect him, so that he does not fall into the water, and make sure that there are men with him during his sleep, and inspect him dozens of times every night .. "
Thus was the interest of the Egyptian king at the dawn of history in this dwarf, who would perform in front of his majesty the sacred dances.
Al-Masry promoted the art of dance and excelled in it, to the point where we say that these Egyptian rhythmic arts were the basis for the various dance arts, which spread in the world and remained until now.
We received a text on the authority of a foreigner who was visiting Egypt, and he was invited to a party hosted by an Egyptian in Memphis, and from what came in this text:
I saw a group of musicians carrying in their hands musical instruments such as the harp, the single and double lute, the drum and the cymbals, then a signal was issued and a man and a woman entered the center of the hall carrying round, concave cymbals made of wood fastened to their palms, and they started beating each other at regular times with dance steps. Sometimes these two dancers danced alone, sometimes they danced together, and other times the young dancer ran behind the dancer, showing his love for her, so the girl ran away from him after she turned around as if she refused his invitation, and the dance was pleasant and fun, and was characterized by lightness and grace. We liked the songs that clapped the glasses. .
The [ancient] Egyptian created the art of aerobatic dancing, and showed high skill in it.
We also received a text about this from a foreigner, who visited Egypt in the fourth century BC, and also watched one of these dances, and it seems that the man liked this art so much admiration that prompted him to record this in a letter in which he said:
"Suddenly the dancers disappeared, only to be replaced by a leaping group
In every direction, then they gathered again, and some of them rose above each other with a grace that summoned admiration, and they formed groups in the form of pyramids that rose to the ceiling, and suddenly they descended one by one in a slight steadiness, and they remained like this in a continuous movement dancing and jumping on their hands, then gathered two by two Then one of them bends his head and places it between the legs of the second, and this is how he takes over the body of the first, and if the body of the first straightens and returns to the normal position, the second bends his head and places it between the legs of the first, and this in turn raises the body of the owner, and then the process is repeated many times, in which the two players exchange positions Super fast, amazing skill, and gracefulness that caught the eye. "
And the dancer in the ancient Egyptian writing was called a couscist, and the houses of nobles and kings were filled with maidens and dances from Egypt and abroad, and they held parties accompanied by music, dancing and drinking, and we found this depicted inside their tombs
Comments
Post a Comment