DANCE 
Some diftinguifh the high dance, confifting of capers, 
gambades, &c. a the low dance, which is terra a terra or 
clofe to the gro 
In the stl of king Louis XIII. there were dances 
The inventioa of fuch dances is attributed to 
neing has always been in ufe among all nations, both 
civilized and barbarous; though held in eiteem among fome 
and in contempt among others. Of itfelf, no doubt, dancing 
is harmlefs. There is a time, fays the preacher to dance ; 
and fometimes it is even made an act of religion. ‘Thus 
David danced before the ark, to honour God, and exprefs 
his excefs of joy for its return into the city of Sion. T 
daughters of Shiloh are likewife faid to have danced ina 
yearly feaft ofthe Lord. Judges, chap. xxi. we fin 
many references to this practice in the religious (lenis: 
of the Jews. From them t pafled to the Egypt ans, and 
afterwards to the Greeks a omans, with w it was a 
principal part of the worthip of abe fale Gots, te after- 
wards was adopted in y pa tions ; hrif- 
tians in popifh countries. telebrased certain fetal, ae 
of ou 
oe 
= 
a 
dancers 
out 
from she rae fot Pee danced. Caftor and Pollux are 
faid to be the firft who taught the art of dancing ; and that 
to the Lacedemonians: though others attribute the inven- 
tion to ede who, they fay, danced for joy after the de- 
feat of the gia 
The anc Laer shad three kinds of dances, sa bacchic ; 
_o. grave, called emmelia, an{wering to our low dances 
er es. The fecond gay, called cordax, ace to 
our eae galliards, gavots, and vaults. he third, 
called ficcinis, was a mixture of gravity ad gaiety. Neop- 
tolemus, fon of Achilles, taught the Cretans a new fort of 
dance, called Pyrrhica, or the armed dance; to be ufed in 
going to war: thoug 
-Curetes fick data oe 
infant Jupiter, an own his cries with the noife and 
clafh of their aes ‘beating again{t their bucklers. 
Diodorus Siculus, in the fourth book of his Bibliotheca, af- 
fures us, that Cybele, daughter of Menoes, king of Phrygia, 
an indymenis his wife, invented divers things, and, 
among others, the flage of feveral pipes, dancing, the 
tabor, and the cymbal. ma, it is certain, inftituted a 
fort a dance for the falii,, priefts of Mars, who made ufe 
of weapons therein. From thefe dances were oe 
aac: fort, called faltatio mimicorum, o uffoons’ 
reffed in "little corflets 
fw 
and Julius Polluxa chapter, on this head ;,Athenzus, Czlius 
Rhodiginus, and Scaliger, alfo make mention of this dance. 
It is not many years ago fince Thoinot Arbeau, a danc- 
ing-matter of Paris, pave an orchefography, wherein all the 
fteps and motions of a dance are written, or noted 
as the founds of a fong are {cored in m 
sage Beauchamp has fome pretenfions to be the inventor 
s fecret, and accordingly procured an arret in his 
our. 
Dancing is ufually an effet and indication of joy among 
oft nations: though M, Palleprat affures us, that there 
are people in South ae who dance to fhew their for- 
row; and it hkewife made a part of the funeral folemnities 
of the. ancients. 
Dancing is fo neceffarily conne&ted with mufic, that in 
treating one art we cannot avoid allufions to the other. 
What is it that excites dancing? Mufic. What is it that 
regulates the fteps of the dance? Mufic. What is it that 
exhilarates and keeps off fatigue, but mufic? One of the 
moft ancient proverbs in our language fays; ‘* No longer 
pipe, no lenger dance,” a = which Ray has recorded 
among our national apophthegm 
From the focial and ruftic cane of our peafants and do- 
meitics to the fublime ballet heroique, mufic is called in to 
animate and enliven ey one, and to give grace and dignity 
to the other. No mufic can boaft a ay Saal longevity to 
our country — No mufic is more accented, more ime 
preffive, and more varied in its meafures, ae that of the 
grand ballets, whith of late years have been performed at. 
Tae 
Mufic and dancing are frequent rivals; but as they can 
not fubfift without each other, their little jealoufies never 
come to an ie qua 
Muc s been written concerning the antiquity of this 
art, career ae in France, the refidence of all the aha 
who prefide over: it. But Pere — M. .Cahu 
and the celebrated ballet-mafter, Nove 
haufted the fubject. Mademoifclle Heyne, and the family 
of Vettris, have left impreffions of their fuperior talents that 
hath lus 
Mu fic, Lucian ree is attendant on the art of dancing, 
and fabfervient to T re more reciprocally ufeful to 
her 
firft fongs. Thefe were the germs of the two arts 
Jith the ancient pce | ae facred —_— ifiform 
us, dancing m oo re 
events. nee fire ve ark. ; 
was a faa part of the religious rites of the 
and i in imitation of them that the children of Ifrael 
danced end the golden calf in the defert. As the Greeks 
had their mythology from Egypt, Orpheus who travelled 
thither for knowledge, is fuppofed to have introduced into 
his country fettal ceremonies fimilar to thofe of 
Romans, who were earnale and uperior in nothing but the 
art of war, and in plundering, flaughtering, and enflaving 
were the religious dances of Paganifm: but as a 
new religion is generally a reform of one more ancient, as the 
Grecian 
