The antique Greek dance, after sculptured and painted figures . nt , the greatmother of thegods, married Kro-nos, and, to pre-vent the infantfrom the voracityof her husband,charged the armedmen to clash theirweapons to drownthe sound of his cries. The Clashcrs acquitted themselves well, clash-ing their helmets, swords and shields. Their dance, necessarily noisy,is distinguished by disordered movements, made necessary by theessential point of legend. The sculptures which represent their exercises, are, unhappily,nearly all of them, of the lower period of art, and therefore con-ventiona
The antique Greek dance, after sculptured and painted figures . nt , the greatmother of thegods, married Kro-nos, and, to pre-vent the infantfrom the voracityof her husband,charged the armedmen to clash theirweapons to drownthe sound of his cries. The Clashcrs acquitted themselves well, clash-ing their helmets, swords and shields. Their dance, necessarily noisy,is distinguished by disordered movements, made necessary by theessential point of legend. The sculptures which represent their exercises, are, unhappily,nearly all of them, of the lower period of art, and therefore con-ventional. These dancers always turn by stamping, on a circular track(Fig. 338). They dance in groups of two or three. They striketheir swords against each others shields, or hurl their shieldsagainst those of their companions. Ordinarily the infant Zeus isrepresented in their midst (Fig. 572). The scenes in which the Clashcrs figure are reproduced in thecase of Zagreus, who is the son of Zeus and Korah. 387. There is this essential difference between the Pyrrhic and. <I Fig. 572. GODS WHO DANCE 253 the dance of the dashers,—the Pyrrhic is a mimetic dance, an imita-tion of a battle, with varied movements; the dance of the Clashers isnot a pretense, it is a noisy clash of brazen shields; it is a dancein the modern acceptance of the word; it is reduced to a gesticula-tion at once boisterous and mechanical. The passage from the one form to the other is simple; the Hel-lenistic artists, in search of new motifs, purposely confused the are represented Pyrrhics for two, executed by two Clasherswho can be recognized by their helmets, swords and shields (360). 388. Dionysos, and the Dionysian Dances.—Among the gods whodance and in whose honor dances are given, Dionysos holds a placein the first rank. In his character of the god of wine, with which,in a happy moment, legend endowed him, he becomes the incarna-tion of joyous folly; he does not walk, he dances: flutes and dulci-me
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherl, booksubjectdance
