DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0109
TRADITIONAL CRETAN DANCES 75
from the Delian tradition, that both sexes took part in the ceremonial dance
performed in honour of Ariadne. It is thus that they are shown on the
celebrated Francois Vase, the alternating chain of the liberated youths and
maidens, preceded by Theseus playing the lyre, who acts as leader of the
dance, while Ariadne: stands in front and holds forth a wreath and the clue
of the Labyrinth. The intermingling of the two sexes, shoulder to shoulder,
in the Court that forms the foreground of the ' Temple Fresco ' shows indeed
that socially there could have been no objection to such mixed dances, but,
as far as can be seen, Minoan religious practice confined the joint performances
to women. It is a symptom of a matriarchal stage.
It seems possible that the change came about through Greek assimila-
tion and adaptation of the old ceremonial dance, in the course of which much
that had belonged to Ariadne was transferred to her male consorts—to
Theseus or, again, together with the Theatre itself, to Dionysos.
Traditional Dances of Cretan Peasants.
In its adapted form at any rate a very fair idea of the original 'mazy' Cretan
dance may be obtained from the dances still performed in the neighbour- dance".
hood of Knossos itself and elsewhere by the Cretan peasants, who have
a quite extraordinary gift for this art, certainly unrivalled in the rest of
Greece. Competent judges, indeed, place these Cretan performances in the
highest rank of European folk-dancing.
Both in the ' orchestra' of the Theatral Area, as already mentioned, and
with wider scope in the Palace courts themselves, dances were organized of
our Cretan workmen and their womenfolk on several festal occasions. In
Fig. 42, part of a chain of dancing villagers 1 is shown, the leader of whom
is seen to the left with raised foot while within sits the player of the lyra
with a friend beside him.
Of the Cretan dances, those of the Candia district and of the adjoin-
ing Malevizi province—the Kacrrptvos2 and Ma\tPi£a>TiKos are the most Kas-
elaborate and graceful. At the same time, though the motion is rapid, a tnnos-
certain dignity is preserved throughout. A kindred form, the ZiTiaKos, occurs
in East Crete. This is a 'seven-beat' dance, but to the West we find the
IIci>To£d\ris, with a ' five-beat' rhythm. In these dances both men and women
take part together. But in the village of Anoja, situated on a Northern
spur of Mount Ida, where primitive customs and costumes have been
1 Of Katalagari, inland of the site of Knossos. named the town—on the basis of a very
2 From the Romaic name of Candia, MeyiiAo uncertain identification with an obscure sea-
Kdarpo. The modern inhabitants have re- port of Knossos—' Herakleion'.
from the Delian tradition, that both sexes took part in the ceremonial dance
performed in honour of Ariadne. It is thus that they are shown on the
celebrated Francois Vase, the alternating chain of the liberated youths and
maidens, preceded by Theseus playing the lyre, who acts as leader of the
dance, while Ariadne: stands in front and holds forth a wreath and the clue
of the Labyrinth. The intermingling of the two sexes, shoulder to shoulder,
in the Court that forms the foreground of the ' Temple Fresco ' shows indeed
that socially there could have been no objection to such mixed dances, but,
as far as can be seen, Minoan religious practice confined the joint performances
to women. It is a symptom of a matriarchal stage.
It seems possible that the change came about through Greek assimila-
tion and adaptation of the old ceremonial dance, in the course of which much
that had belonged to Ariadne was transferred to her male consorts—to
Theseus or, again, together with the Theatre itself, to Dionysos.
Traditional Dances of Cretan Peasants.
In its adapted form at any rate a very fair idea of the original 'mazy' Cretan
dance may be obtained from the dances still performed in the neighbour- dance".
hood of Knossos itself and elsewhere by the Cretan peasants, who have
a quite extraordinary gift for this art, certainly unrivalled in the rest of
Greece. Competent judges, indeed, place these Cretan performances in the
highest rank of European folk-dancing.
Both in the ' orchestra' of the Theatral Area, as already mentioned, and
with wider scope in the Palace courts themselves, dances were organized of
our Cretan workmen and their womenfolk on several festal occasions. In
Fig. 42, part of a chain of dancing villagers 1 is shown, the leader of whom
is seen to the left with raised foot while within sits the player of the lyra
with a friend beside him.
Of the Cretan dances, those of the Candia district and of the adjoin-
ing Malevizi province—the Kacrrptvos2 and Ma\tPi£a>TiKos are the most Kas-
elaborate and graceful. At the same time, though the motion is rapid, a tnnos-
certain dignity is preserved throughout. A kindred form, the ZiTiaKos, occurs
in East Crete. This is a 'seven-beat' dance, but to the West we find the
IIci>To£d\ris, with a ' five-beat' rhythm. In these dances both men and women
take part together. But in the village of Anoja, situated on a Northern
spur of Mount Ida, where primitive customs and costumes have been
1 Of Katalagari, inland of the site of Knossos. named the town—on the basis of a very
2 From the Romaic name of Candia, MeyiiAo uncertain identification with an obscure sea-
Kdarpo. The modern inhabitants have re- port of Knossos—' Herakleion'.