Ancient Egyptian Dances

Cover

Title Ancient Egyptian Dances

Author Irena Lexova

ISBN 0-486-40906-6

Publisher Dover Publications, Inc.

Category Non-Fiction: History

Shira's Rating (on a scale of 0 to 5)

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What It's About

This book conveys the findings of scholarly research on the dance forms of ancient Egypt. Originally published in Czechoslovakia in 1935, it was the first piece of research to focus specifically on what types of dances were performed by the ancient Egyptians, and for what purposes. Prior books about ancient Egypt featured occasional chapters about dance, but this was the first research entirely dedicated to dance.

The idea for this research was born in the early 20th century when Dr. Frantisek Lexa was appalled by the awkward poses and jerky movements that a modern dance troupe claimed had been inspired by ancient Egyptian pictures. When his daughter Irena became his student at the university, he assigned her the research project of looking for the truth behind the claims. This book contains her findings, translated from the original language into English.

A significant portion of the book consists of reproductions of 78 drawings, arranged chronologically. The text refers to these many times throughout the book, and I found them to be very valuable.

There is also an extensive bibliography, but in order to take advantage of it you would probably need access to a research library that participates in inter-library loan programs, and you would also need to be able to read German (or know somebody who does).

Its Good Points

This book was carefully researched, using meticulous analysis and investigative techniques. The author attempts to interpret ancient pictures in a realistic, factual way. It was much more credible than other historical dance research I have read that came across more as wishful thinking or speculation.

This book goes much more deeply into the dances of ancient Egypt than the book Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance does. It covers both sacred and secular dances, and attempts to describe the moves used in them.

I liked the many drawings very much, and I really appreciated the fact that they were arranged in chronological order. Not only did they provide a sense of what Egyptian dances and poses might have been like, they also offered ideas for costuming and hair styles.

The table of contents is very detailed, and I found myself frequently referring back to it.

The translator who created the English-language text did a very good job. Although I occasionally stumbled into an awkward sentence structure, for the most part the language flowed smoothly and didn't feel like a translation.

On The Negative Side....

The book was a bit too dry at times. I suppose it isn't surprising, when you consider that it originated as scholarly research which has been translated from the original language into English.

The text frequently refers to the illustrations, which meant that in order to make sense of what the text was saying I needed to flip back and forth frequently between the text and the corresponding pictures. This became tedious after a while.

The research was performed in the 1930's, and therefore lacks input from more recent discoveries. It would be nice to see updated research that builds on Lexova's original work but incorporates additional information from more recently-discovered pictures and texts.

I was very disappointed to discover that this book didn't have an index. I like to use research books as reference sources, using the index to refer back to useful passages, so the lack of an index limits my ability to do that with this one.

In Conclusion

This is a valuable resource for anyone who is truly interested in Pharaonic dance. It helps liberate your thinking away from "temple dance" and funny poses, offering additional ways of looking at how people may once have danced.