Through the Eras

DanceJar with river scene. BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART, 09.889.400,CHARLES EDWIN WILBOUR FUND. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.of Iy-mery, six dancing figures represent parts of the samedance that artists portrayed with 31 figures in the verylarge tomb of Watetkhethor. Iy-mery’s artists had muchless wall space, so they found ways to condense and abbreviatethe action. Watetkhethor’s very large tomb accommodateda more detailed portrayal of the dance.During the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, artists first representedthese characteristic movements from each dancein the order they were executed. This technique was thebeginning of narrative in Egyptian visual art.TEXTUAL SOURCES. The Egyptians left inscriptionsin relief scenes and the texts of funeral liturgies that furtherexplain the meaning and significance of dance. Thecaptions that sculptors carved in relief scenes are extremelyabbreviated. Often only two- or three-word sentence fragmentsstood for a whole sentence that was part of a wellknownsong. Unfortunately, modern scholars cannotalways make sense of these highly abbreviated inscriptions.Sometimes, though, scholars have connected the words inthe captions to fuller texts in the liturgy of the PyramidTexts, carved in the royal pyramids of King Unas and thekings of the Sixth Dynasty, and Coffin Texts, the ritualswritten on the inside of many Middle Kingdom coffins.These two sets of spells recited during a funeral often canilluminate both the captions and thus the meaning andsignificance of dance steps or even entire dances.SOURCESEmma Brunner-Traut, Der Tanz in alten Ägyptischen nachbildlichen und inschriflichen Zeugnissen (Glückstadt,Germany: J. J. Augustin, 1938).Pear-shaped pot with flamingo decoration, showing theflamingo dance. BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART, 07.447.402, CHARLESEDWIN WILBOUR FUND. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.Jonathan Van Lepp, “The Dance Scene of Watetkhethor.”Unpublished master’s thesis (Los Angeles: University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles, 1987).COSTUMES AND FASHION IN DANCECLOTHING. During the Old Kingdom, women normallywore long dresses with straps over the shoulders.The hems of such dresses hung just above the ankles.Dancers wore this costume while performing the mirrordance in the tomb of the prime minister, Mereruka.Singers and clappers accompanying dances also oftenwore this costume in scenes of all periods. However, theOld Kingdom dress fit snugly and obstructed free movement.This garment could only accommodate dancesperformed with short steps that avoided raising the legs.During more vigorous dances, female performers wore ashort kilt cut at an angle in the front. A belt often hungdown from the waist. This belt was long enough so thatits movement would accentuate the dancer’s movements.The Old Kingdom dress continued in popularity foreveryday wear and for singers during the Middle Kingdom,but dancers mostly wore the short kilt, probablybecause Middle Kingdom dances were more lively andathletic than Old Kingdom dances. During the NewKingdom, the typical woman’s dress added a cloak witheither broad or narrow sleeves. The dress under the cloakoften included a belt. Both the cloak and the dress wereoften pleated. Dancers wore both the narrow- and broad-68 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)