Primitive and Ancient Dance

Question 1

This intelligent Byzantine Empress of humble origin started her career as a dancer, amongst other things.

Answer 1

Theodora

Question 2

The Minoan culture celebrated the myth of Minotaur, as seen through their focus on

Answer 2

labyrinths and bull-dancing

Question 3

Pyrrhic dances were

Answer 3

vigorous soldier-based dances of Greece

Question 4

Name four Greek playwrights:

Answer 4

Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Aeschylus

Question 5

Dance can be categorized as serving one (or more) of three primary purposes:

Answer 5

community, presentational (display) or religious

Question 6

Who is credited with inventing pantomime in Rome around 22BC

Answer 6

Pylades of Cilicia and Bathyllus of Alexndria

Question 7

Name of the individual credited with the establishment of “theater”

Answer 7

Thespis

Question 8

THe Dionysian Festival gave rise to early theater when

Answer 8

the celebrants moved the myth-telling re-enactments outside and formalized the presentation space

Question 9

What four professions could women practice in ancient Egypt

Answer 9

midwife, priestess, dancer, mourner

Question 10

Three 20th century choreogrpahers inspired and influenced by the arts and culture of Greece were:

Answer 10

Duncan, Graham, and Balanchine

Question 11

Who were the Salii?

Answer 11

colleges of 24 dancing priests throughout Italy who sang votive songs to Mars

Question 12

What was the purpose of dance for ancient cultures?

Answer 12

For developing community & practicing worship - including healing, preparing for battle, celebrating rites of passage

Question 13

The Greek dramatists not only wrote plays - they were known to frequently

Answer 13

choreograph and dance in the stagings of their own works

Question 14

A “kordax” was

Answer 14

a dance performed in Greek comedies that evolved into a lewd suggestive dance

Question 15

What were the three forms of ancient Greek drama?

Answer 15

tragedy, comedy, satyr

Question 16

which philosopher wrote what some consider to be the first description and analysis of the literary arts of tragedy and comedy? What was the name of the treatise?

Answer 16

Aristotle/ “Poetics”

Question 17

A Shaman was

Answer 17

healer and religious leader - responsible for the physical and spiritual well-being of the community

Question 18

Aristotle maintained that the artist

Answer 18

changes reality into another medium; he selects and re-shapes, making reality more universal, and thereby more powerful (and cathartic)

Question 19

In his famous treatise on the arts, a famous Greek philosopher maintained that all arts serve two fundamental purposes:

Answer 19

catharsis and “poetikes” (“artistry”)

Question 20

“Enthousiasmos” - the basis of the word “enthusiasm” - originally referred to

Answer 20

the altered state of having the god Dionysus within you

Question 21

Who was the Greek Muse of Dance?

Answer 21

Terpsichore

Question 22

Why was dance an important, even essential practice for society?

Answer 22

Dance was a primary form of communication that bonded the community, thereby increasing the society’s chances of survival

Question 23

Although Greece saw the establishment of the first theaters, it was the Romans who

Answer 23

transformed the performance space into the basic kind of theater we typically see today

Question 24

The “Artists of Dionysus” were

Answer 24

the first union, formed for professional poets, actors, trainers, chorus members and musicians

Question 25

Plato classified movement in two ways

Answer 25

noble and ignoble