Roman Dance

Rome allowed the foreign arts of music and dance to dominate their culture since Roman citizens considered performing on the stage beneath them. The Greek religion was different. Instead of making their gods great, transcendent, and mysterious, the Greek poets beginning with Homer made their gods in their own image. This is the beginning of humanism, for not only did the Greeks make their gods human-like, but actually glorified the human body in their gods.

Roman views of the gods were much more practical; as they viewed the gods on a contractual basis. If a Roman citizen performed the proper farming purification ceremonies he would get a good harvest. On the other hand the Greeks performed sacrifices as gratitude to the gods, or for forgiveness of sins. The Roman religion had a less beautiful view of the gods than the Greeks. The Greeks had a complicated view of their gods as fickle, even proper sacrificing would not guarantee the favor of the gods. The Romans viewed the gods almost like machines that would grant good or bad depending on what they did.

Rome as a conquering imperial power represented nearly the whole world of its day, and its dances accordingly were most numerous. Amongst the illustrations already given we have many that were preserved in Rome. In the beginning of its existence as a power only religious dances were practiced, and many of these were of Etruscan origin, such as the Lupercalia, and the Ambarvalia. In the former the dancers were semi-nude, and more rurally ritual; the latter was a serious dancing procession through fields and villages. That the Etruscan, Sabellian, Oscan, Samnite, and other national dances of the country had some influence on the art in Rome is highly probable, but the paucity of early Roman examples renders the evidence difficult.

A military dance, supposed to be the Corybantum. From a Greek bas-relief in the Vatican Museum.

The Pyrrhic dance was also introduced into Rome by Julius Caesar, and was danced by the children of the leading men of Asia and Bithynia.

As the State increased in power by conquest, it absorbed with other countries other habits, and the art degenerated often, like that of Greece and Etruria, into a vehicle for orgies, when they brought to Rome with their Asiatic captives even more licentious practices and dances. As Rome, which never rose to the intellectual and imaginative state of Greece in her best period, Greek arts represented wealth, commerce, and conquest to Roman nobles. No Roman citizen danced except in the religious dances.

The only other major power in the Western Mediterranean was Carthage, a colony founded by the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon. “Phoenicians” in Latin is Punici, thus the wars against them are known as the “Punic” wars. Carthage attacked Rome, but Rome triumphed. In the first Punic war (264-241 BCE), Rome gained Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, which had previously been part of the Carthaginian empire. After the second Punic war, as Greek habits easily made their way into Italy, it became a fashion for the young to learn to dance. The greatest naval power of the Mediterranean in the third century BC was the North African city of Carthage near modern day Tunis. The Carthaginians were originally Phoenicians and Carthage was a colony founded by the Phoenician capital city of Tyre in the ninth century BC; the word "Carthage" means, in Phoenician, "the New City." While the Romans were steadily increasing their control over the Italian peninsula, the Carthaginians were extending their empire over most of North Africa, the Strait of Gibraltar, and most of southern Spain.

In 201 BC the second Punic war ended and ability for Greece to trade in wine and culture through its many cities in southern Italy and Sicily greatly increased. Greek slaves taken in wars in the east became the educators of the noble sons of Rome. Greek was the first literary language of the Romans, who wrote their first histories in Greek. Like much of the Mediterranean and Roman colonies, the taste for the wild, orgiastic and ecstatic rites of Dionysus and the Great Mother Goddess was strong.

Bacchante. From a fresco, Pompeii, 1st century B.C.

Bacchantes From a fresco,
Pompeii, 1st century B.C.

The education in dancing and gesture were important in the actor, as masks prevented any display of feature. The position of the actor was never recognized professionally, and was considered infamia. But the change came, which caused Cicero to say "no one danced when sober." Eventually the performers of lower class occupied the dancing platform, and the wealthy class was happy to be entertained. While accordingly the taking part in the masked farces with stereotyped characters, that formed the usual native amusement, was looked upon as an innocent youthful frolic, the appearing on a public stage for money and without a mask was considered as directly infamous, and the singer and poet were in this respect placed quite on a level with the rope-dancer and the harlequin.

Urban magistrates were legally entitled to inflict bodily chastisement and imprisonment on any actor at any time and at any place. The necessary effect of this was that dancing, music, and poetry, at least so far as they appeared on the public stage, fell into the hands of the lowest classes of the Roman burgesses, and especially into those of foreigners.

Public Festivals

The public games (ludi) were originally part of religious festivals, but eventually entertainment superseded religion and the games became more numerous.
By the 1st century BC, magistrates used private games to gain support in elections. The emperors successfully continued this practice, and the games became more and more lavish as each tried to out-do his predecessor. Enormous amounts of money were spent on the games, yet admission was free. By the close of the 2nd century there were 135 official celebrations, and by the end of the 4th century there were 176.
For the wealthy, however, entertainment could take place at home as they hosted their own dinner parties and lavish banquets. Along with dinner could be music, singing, and dancing by professionals. In some circles, recitation of written work, such as poetry and speeches, followed. For the plebeians, associations (collegia) may have thrown dinner parties.

Theatre in Rome

In Ancient Rome, plays were presented at the time of the games on contemporary wooded stages. The first such permanent Roman theater was ordered to be built by Pompey in 55 BC, eventually erected on the Campus Martius at Rome. Built of stone, it had a seating capacity of 27,000. Essentially patterned after the Greek theater, it differed in the respect that it was built on level ground.
Excavated out of the sides of hills, the circular space located in front of the stage in a Greek theater was called the orchestra, where choruses and actors performed. Since Roman plays usually lacked a true chorus, the area in front of the stage which might have been an orchestra simply became a semicircular area.

In the theatre the method of the Roman chorus differed from that of the Greeks. In the latter the orchestra or place for the dancing and chorus was about 12 ft. below the stage, with steps to ascend when these were required; in the former the chorus was not used in comedy, and having no orchestra was in tragedies placed upon the stage. The getting together of the chorus was a public service, or liturgia, and in the early days of Grecian prosperity was provided by the choregus.

All actors in Roman plays were male slaves. Men played the parts of women. The typical stock characters included the rich man, the king, the soldier, the slave, the young man, and the young woman. If necessary, an actor would play two or more roles in a single performance.

The most notable part of an actor's regalia was probably his mask. While different masks and wigs were used for comedies than tragedies, certain characteristics remained constant. All masks had both cheek supports and special chambers which acted as amplifiers. Gray wigs represented old men, black for young men, and red for slaves. Young men donned brightly colored clothing, while old men wore white. In this manner the characters could be easily identified by the audience.

Admission to the Roman plays was free for citizens. Originally, women were barred from viewing comedies and were only admitted to tragedies, but later, no such restrictions were imposed.

Pantomimes & Mimes

Pantomimes, popular during the 1st century BC, involved miming roles to accompaniment of singers, dancers, and musicians, in addition to visual effects, similar to a ballet. In mimes of antiquity actors spoke. A pantomime was a dramatic performance whose subject was taken from Greek mythology. There was a chorus of singers, an orchestra, and an elaborate stage setting. The chief dancer told the whole story by gestures and conventional signs, and portrayed each character in turn.

Dance had two elements: movement, which could be taught to anyone; and gesture, which was reserved for professional dancers. Women were allowed in mimes and pantomimes, which were more popular than typical plays.

They carried mimetic dances to a very perfect character in the time of Augustus under the term of Musica muta.