DANCE. 
Grecian of the Egyptian ; the Roman of the Grecian; the 
Chrifian of the Jewith, &c., many forms and ceremonies to 
he 
n great feltivals and celebrations, were 
ed by “the. mae Chriftians 3 in which even the 
bifhops and dignified clergy, according to Scaliger and Pere 
chorifters, on Whitfunday, be each onl es the ate — 
dance while they fung hymns of jubilati (An 
a out mae ancient euarebe es, ftill fubbifting, in eek 
the choir was conftruéted in a theatrical form.) After 
Speaking of the peri dances of the Hebrewsand Pagans, 
this writer obferves, that the name of choir is ftill retaine a 
in our churches for that part of a cathedral where the ca- 
nons and priefts fing and perform the ceremonies of religion. 
he wor from xopos a dance, or a company of dancers 
‘The derivation is remarkable, and not one of thofe that can 
be mare do eee from fancy, and accidental fimili- 
tude of found. e of the acceptations of the term opos, 
given iy Suidas, is—to cusnpoe tTwy ty Tos ixxAnoiess GoovTWI—A 
any of fingers in a church; that is, a choir. eems 
Nikcwife to have been fometnes — like our hide choir, 
the /ocal fenfe : 329955 fays ob Yeopev TOTOS, 
c. that is, dancers, and the pee in nan Ee: a. ee It 
is fo ufed by Homer, Od. vii. 260. Atsnvey Je xopov. —'h hey 
made {mooth, or level, the place appointed for dancing. The 
choir was formerly feparated from the altar, and elevated 
in the form of a theatre, enclofed on all fides witha baluftrade. 
It had a pulpit on each fide, in which the pared and gofpel 
een at Rome in the churches of 
- wo that remain 
n 0; his tynodical conftitutions, 
exprefsly aa rs a priclts ¢ of his diocefe to abolifh it in 
the i. rch, cemeteries, and public proceffions. Contfti- 
tut. 
The defcendants of the — cues of our ifland, 
the Cambro-Britons, in our own m ry; undays, ufed 
- be played out of churc 2 fiddle, ad ie sae a dance 
n the church-yard at t he conelufion of the fermon. Thefe 
soil hardly be called , though in fome mea- 
fure conneéted with the fervice of the church, where the 
eople are affembled; but however harmlefs the practice 
may origioally have been, it has, we believe, been totally dif- 
credited and abolithed by the diffenters and met Ciao difts. 
On the ftage, heroic and hiftorical ballets feem very early 
to have been introduced at Athens, either as intermezzi or in 
the texture of the drama. The labyrinth of Crete, the battle 
of Thefeus and the Minotaur, and other ar — wn and 
popular fubjects, were ig anaes in pant witho 
oral utterance. Proteu om fuch marvels mcuatest 
of figure are related, ms pen one reo their dance 
“and was fo delighted that he entreated the 
In - art, like all others, the Greeks were copied by the 
Rom 
Pyiden a native of Cilicia, and Bathyllus of Alexandria, 
carried the pantomimical art at 
partnerfhip ; Pylades reprefented grave, aa and pat 
eae 3 scale 18, fuch as were ae 
eer their eben elie a sat the lofs of the repablic 
and of liberty, t alee increafe of sae oa 
and eafe of Augottu his imperial gov nt. Ro 
was divided into two fadtions, the Pyladians a ae lians, 
ts and Fe iccinifls, 
Sy oer manner fo true, > all the ata fitua- 
tions of this hero, ete king 4 Pontus who faw this exhibi- 
tion for the firft time, followed the geftures of the actor fo 
clofely as to comprehend with facility ae circumftance, 
mperor, as a 
Sebel favour, to let him take the dancer ae with him; ine 
forming Nero, that he had barbarous neighbours, whofe lan« 
ee no one underflood, and who had never been able to 
learn his own, but he thought the gefticulations of this man 
would explain his wifhes to 
P. Meneftrier, not a philafopher but a deed ae 
tic, who lived under, and wrote fora religious prince (Lou 
XIV.), rake ig: ee) is in itfelf one of hate ndufetent 
things of w e good or bad ufe may incline us to ap- 
prove or co ae 
The fages of antiquity regarded ee as a 
exercife, an inoffenfive relaxation, and as 
fervative againtt the diforders of the m fade € 
is in motion, the mind repofes itfelf. The figure, the fteps, 
he movements of the dance, are equally amufing to the 
dancer and the f 
h 
a ufeful bodily 
eCtator. 
ween mufic and dancing is 
fuch as to require a ballet-mafter, not only to be a praétical 
mufician, but a judge of emptor ; if not a compofer him- 
felf he fhould be able to fuggeit fuch fubje&ts to the maeftro 
di cappella, as will exprefs his ideas, fuit his principal fubjec, 
and ie the fituations into which the feveral charafters are 
thrown. Noverre ape that a ballet well compofed wanted 
no re ae ords to explain its meaning. Singing and 
dancing together mutually weaken each other; and even St. 
Auguitine, in {peaking of balle ets, in the third century, com- 
aearie of their monotony, and faid that the were obliged 
place a crier at the fide of the fcene, to proclaim to ‘the 
fp sain what the dancers were about to reprefent. The 
cits. dialogues, and paige ai in the {plendid i of 
Lulli’s operas in the time of Louis 
fures, 
remaining fteadi 
time, “ fe 1k petit point du pied, Ge bors d’ceuvres,”’ in 
his fyftem. 
