Bodies in Motion

Abstract

Drawing on the combined approaches of ancient Greek iconography, dance history, and the archaeology of ritual and religion, this paper examines dance gesture as a mechanism of ritual communication in ancient Greek vase-painting. After presenting the problems and limitations of matching art and text with regard to dance, as both Classical scholars and practitioners of modern dance have attempted, the paper expands on various ways of showing dance on vases. Special attention is given to komast dancers on black-figure vases and to other types of dance scenes and figures. A rethinking of the evidence for dance as ritual on Greek vases is proposed under the two categories of non-repetitive and repetitive gesture. It is posited that such a distinction anticipates the mood, participants, and occasions, and might indicate discrete areas of ritual activity. Dance, gesture, and ritual are also considered according to the gender and sexuality of performers, the presence of the divine, and the relationship between the shape, composition, and function of some vessels.