St. Landry democrat., 1879-06-28
POETRY OF MOTION.
The light Faniaslic Toe Among the Ma
lions OF Antiquity.
,,Forney's Progress.

Dancing at first waa, without doubt,
mere gesticulation, cortege of graceful
pantomimists, probably natural and
spontaneous exhibition of feeling, which
gradually became more polished and
refined until arriving at the dignity OF
an art. Religion seems to have given
dancing its first effective impetus, just as
hymns were evidently the first songs
These we're the germs Of the two arts
People can dance before they can talk,
sometimes. A king of Pontus, in the
days of Nero, could not teach his bar
barous neighbors to speak his language
and theirs was a gibberish barely COM
pretended by themselves. So the king
having seen a dancer entertain the
Emperor Nero with representation Of
the lsbors of Hercules, tracing in man.
ner SO true all the different situations of
this hero that, following the gestures of
the actor, he could comprehend, with
utmost facility, every circumstance Of
the performance, he was so delighted
that he entreated the emperor, as great
favor, to let him take the dancer home
with him, that he might, through this
means, the better instruct his people.
As civilization advanced to Pertain
Importance, and the ingenuity and e]e-
CANT taste of the Greeks began to mani.
fest itself, the art Of dancing was reduced
to regular system, They oli'
ginated dances depicting all the
passion OF which human nature is
capable, exciting the beholders to
such sympathy that the effect produced
seems almost incredible. The accounts
we read Of these early dancers are 50
overwhelmingly expressive, that to be
lieye them at all, one must acknowledge
that these people we're possessed of not
only powerful Imagination, but an
inherent poetic and passionate nature as
well, exhibited in the Greeks by an en-
gaeing grsce and sottness OF manner, and
by the Romans in slaughter, blooashed
and the horrid practices of War. Their
military dances are said to have been
practiced with offensive weapons; the
youth o! the country were so trsined in
the dreadful art of war, that it was thus
made part of their daily recreation.
The Spartan virgins, even, were partici-
pats in these manly exercises, 50 that
sccording to the idea OF Lycurgus, they
should not be inferior to tie other sex
in point Of strength and vigoT, both of
mi1d and body. What wonder that
they had q nation of AmazonF, Or that
the Sabine women fought with the skill
Of warriors The Spartans never danced
except with real arms; in process OF
time, however, other nations used only
weapons of wood oD such occasions, or,
as in the second century. instead of
arms, they carried only TASKS, wands or
reeds and lighted torches, instead of
jsvelins and swords. With these torches
they executed dance called the Cons
fsgrat;on OF the World" The number
and variety Of the ancient dances are
countless; they were used for all pur>
poses, repres enting tun and frolic, hope
and despair, youth and old age, love and
hate. innocence and licentiousness,
birth and marriage, life and death,
paradise ard hell. The bacchana-
Ian dances arrived at such a
state of corruption that much OF the
vice of the Etruscan cities has been
attributed 10 their excesses. Plato
reduces the dauces OF the ancents to
three classes: First, the dances which
tended 10 make the body robust, active
and we'll disposed for the exercises OF
war. Secondly, the domestic dances,
which hsd fol their object an innocent
and agreeable relaxation and amusement.
Thirdly, the mediatorisi dances, which |
were in use in expiations and sacrifces. |
Among the latter [ suppose may be |
classed the strangest of all dances, the |
funeral dsnce, which in the time of the |
ancient AtheDians and Egyptians vas
the accompaniment of all funerals. A |
double file OF dancing boys and girls
preceded the corpse, and then followed |
the dance of the chief mimic. Imsgine
What direful and heartrending custom
5his must have been. An experienced |
nimic would be appointed to precede
he nearse, dressed in the clothes and
wearing mask showing a perfect like
less of the deceased, To the sound of
,rave and solemn symphonies would be
represented in dances the most striking
Ind noted actions by which the unfortu-
late dead man had during life distin>
pushed himself. This might be called a
mute funeral nation without exhausting
he patience Of the auditors, and proba-
,ly, By the censure or praise Of the dead,
,ften proved useful admonition 10 the
wing. In short, as historical writer
avs, " the dance OF the area mimic WAS
Il morals what anatomy has now become
n physie."
The dance of innocence, So called
BECAUSE maidens performed it before the
ltsr of Diana with grave and solemn
teps and in modest attitudes, has fur
lished history with much OF its rousaee.
Helena was st this exercise when Theseus