Greek Dance Research Articles

Comprehensive assessment of the results of zorba dance-based rehabilitation in patients after myocardial infarction

Abstract Introduction Dance movement engages global muscle sequences of the human body, improves physical performance, and helps reduce stress and excessive muscle tension. Dance exercises allow you to better control your movement and muscles. Zorba Greek dancing as a form of physical activity brings benefits in the form of improved mental health, well-being and quality of life. Rehabilitation may contribute to improving cardiorespiratory fitness and mental condition in the group of patients after myocardial infarction. Aim of the study The aim of the study was to evaluate a rehabilitation program based on Zorba dance on selected clinical parameters in patients after myocardial infarction. Materials and methods The study included 99 patients after myocardial infarction who were rehabilitated for 5 weeks. Patients were enrolled into two groups. Group I (50 patients) performed cycle ergometer training and the Greek dance Zorba. Group II (49 patients) performed cycle ergometer training and rehabilitation exercises. At the beginning and after rehabilitation, patients' BMI, balance (scales: Tinetti, Berg, 30CST), gait (6MWT), psychophysical status (SF-36, WHO-5, FCIS), and breathlessness (mMRC scale) were assessed. Results After undergoing rehabilitation, there was a reduction in BMI (I vs. II p<0.01), improvement in balance on the Tinetti (I vs. II p<0.01) and Berg scale (I vs. II p<0.01), improvement in the 30CS test score (I vs. II p= 0.018), improvement in WHO-5 (I vs. II p< 0.01), and reduction in dyspnea (mMRC) (I vs. II p< 0.01) in the Zorba group. Conclusions Both methods of rehabilitation improve functional efficiency; However, rehabilitation with the use of Zorba dance additionally improves balance in patients after myocardial infarction.

Children performance evaluation rubric in Greek dance. Reliability of scores

ABSTRACT The analytic rubric, consisting of eight criteria (dance identification, response to the rhythm of the dance, synchronization, step sequence, direction-schema and type of hand holding of the dance, body stance and position, quality characteristics of the movement, and expressiveness) and five performance levels for each (excellent, very good, moderate acceptable, marginally acceptable, not acceptable), aims at objectively and consistently illustrating the way in which one is dancing, regardless of who evaluates it (Pitsi, Digellidis and Philippou 2013). The purpose of the study was to examine the reliability of the dance performance rubric in students aged 10–12 years. Consequently, thirty-six students, in grades 5 and 6 of primary school, with an average 4-year experience at Greek dances, were examined in their ability to identify three Greek dances from their music, to respond to the rhythm of the dance with hand clapping and perform the kinetic form of each dance. The students were videotaped during the performance of the dances and evaluated through their videotaped performances. A re-evaluation was carried out two weeks after the first one so the possibility of repeating the evaluation by memory would be excluded. The raters were two dance experts with great experience. The findings are encouraging as to the reliability of the use of this rubric. The rubric, therefore, will enable dance teachers to get feedback to better design future learning experiences for maximum benefit to their students.

Gurdjieff: Ritual Movements and Prayer

G. I. Gurdjieff, a mystic of Greek descent, said that, in ancient religion, ritual and sacred dance were guidebooks containing vital truth, which could not be understood without a key. They were “guidebooks” in that they aimed to bring one to a state where one can experience one’s individual reality, and even a relationship to God. For Gurdjieff, prayer, including ritual prayer, meant connection, and so he attributed to rituals an objective value, and did not reduce them to an instrument of communication. His own “sacred gymnastics” or “Movements” comprised three categories: “exoteric,” “mesoteric,” and “esoteric.” While all three levels are linked, the esoteric and mesoteric levels approximate to ritual prayers and to contemplative exercises. Exoteric Movements chiefly serve to prepare one’s body and attention for the higher. We note how Gurdjieff exhibited these ideas in his “ballet scenario,” The Struggle of the Magicians, and how they are consistent with what was understood of ancient Greek dance in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The key to understanding the unity of his aims and methods is his concept of “self-remembering.”

Moving Images, Moving Bodies

Abstract At the end of the nineteenth century, under the influence of chronophotography and the arguments of the French musicologist Maurice Emmanuel, it was believed that ancient dance could be recovered for the modern world by animating the figures on ancient Greek vases. This led to a flurry of practitioners of so-called ‘Grecian’ dance across Europe, the US and the British Empire. At the beginning of the twentieth century, moving like a Greek became as popular and as liberating for women of the upper classes as discarding a corset and dressing in a Greek-style tunic. In the Edwardian period, since the most celebrated practitioners of Greek dance were women, this new corporeal Hellenism was viewed with deep suspicion as a perilous bid for Sapphic liberation from the patriarchy. But this new corporeality was no less part of a wider utopian return both to nature and the ideal of the collective that laid the groundwork for fascist appropriations of Greek dance in the 1920s.

ANTIQUITY'S PHILOSOPHY AS A METHODOLOGY FOR CONTEMPORARY DANCE SCHOLARSHIP

Abstract. The art of antiquity, including dance, has long captivated human fascination with its timeless perfection, leaving an indelible mark on contemporary art. This influence is evident in the scholarly pursuits of those studying ancient Greek history. Dance held a significant position in ancient Greek life, as attested by surviving artifacts such as sculptures, reliefs, depictions on Greek vessels, and a wealth of written sources. Renowned philosophers, historians, and writers of antiquity, including Socrates, Plato, and Lucian, paid heed to dance as an art form. Even the epic poems of Homer, the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," mention various forms of dance more than 20 times. Today, more than 300 types of Greek dances can be counted, and according to some sources, "there are more than 10,000 traditional dances that come from all regions of Greece." As research methods, the author uses an analytical review of surviving artifacts and ancient written sources, testifying to the important role of the art of dance in the life of the ancient Greeks. The author also made an analysis of the literature, which testifies to the important role of art, including dance in ancient Greece, which to this day has a huge impact on the development of modern art of choreography. And the “Apollonian” (conscious) logical and “Dionysian” (unconscious) free creative beginnings in art, which are widely discussed today, also originate from ancient Greek art. The author also emphasizes the epistemological significance of dance education and advocates for the revival of the classical tradition of mandatory dance instruction in schools.

Effect of different teaching methods (reciprocal and shelf-check TS) on learning and performance of traditional Greek dance

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effect of reciprocal, self-check, and command TS on the learning and dance performance of Greek traditional dances. A total of 128 university students, were divided into three groups and taught six dances. The reciprocal experimental group, the self-check experimental group and the command control group. A two-way MANOVA indicated that in the Zonaradiko, Tsamiko and Pentozali dances, reciprocal and self-check TS scored higher (p < 0.05) than the command TS on individual criteria and overall performance. In the Xassapia and Tik-Double dances, only the criteria ‘dance recognition’, ‘qualitative movement elements’ and ‘expressiveness’ were superior. In the Enteka dance no differences (p > 0.05) were observed. Similarly, reciprocal, and self-check TS did not differ from each other, except of ‘qualitative movement elements’ and ‘expressiveness’ in the Pentozali dance, where reciprocal showed higher values (p < 0.05). The females’ dance performance was better than that of male students, regardless of the TS. The use of reciprocal, and self-check TS effectively contributes to the learning of Greek dance. A quality learning environment is promoted, where decision-making initiatives are delegated to students, enhancing the skills of collaboration, observation, heteroevaluation, self-assessment, and self-regulation, necessary in their lives, in general.

Choreographing Proximity and Difference: Vassos Kanellos's Performance of Greekness as an Embodied Negotiation with Western Dance Modernity

Countering the historiographic under-representation of Greek modern dance, this article focuses on early twentieth-century dance artist Vassos Kanellos. Combining Western/European choreographic inputs and local, often traditional, elements, Kanellos rearticulated the inscription of Greek dance in historical time—beyond a sole focus on antiquity—and anchored it in a nationally marked space and in the specificity of a posited Greek “race.” Informed by new modernist studies, this article reads Kanellos's practice as a reflection of the country's process of constructing a hegemonic national identity against a background in which Greece constituted both Europe's subaltern periphery and the foundation of its genealogical narrative.

Dance Stereotypes. Reflection of gender relations in the ‘Karsilama’ dance in Greece

Τhe research field of this paper is the Greek dance ‘Karsilama’ as this is danced in the area of Thrace in Greece. More specifically, the research was carried out in the community of Nea Vyssa, which is located in the northern part of this country. The aim of this research is to study the dances of ‘Karsilama’ in Nea Vyssa, which have rhythm of nine beats (9/8), so that through the analysis of their form, it can be established whether these dances reflect stereotypes of the position of the two sexes in society. The collection of ethnographic data was based on the ethnographic method. Laban’s notation system was used to record the choreographic compositions of ‘Karsilama’ dance, while for the analysis of their structure and form, as well as their codification, the structural-morphological and typological method of analysis was applied, as it is applied in the Greek Τraditional Dance and for their comparison the comparative method was used. Finally, the interpretation of the data was held with the anthropological thinking about gender identity as it appears in anthropological views of dance and particularly in Hanna. From the data analysis was found that the ‘Karsilama’ dances are established the gender hierarchy in the community of Nea Vyssa, highlighting Nea Vyssa in a patriarchal society.

Greek Tragedy or Gestation Period: Future of the Modern Church in Greece

Greek Tragedy or Gestation Period: Future of the Modern Church in Greece

Madame Mariquita, Greek Dance, and French Ballet Modernism

AbstractThis article seeks to correct prevailing narratives of French ballet modernism, which exclude one of its earliest and most significant choreographers, Madame Mariquita. Although long overshadowed by the Diaghilev enterprise and by dancers such as Isadora Duncan, Mariquita's experiments with creating dances that drew on ancient Greek imagery while ballet mistress at the Paris Opéra-Comique in the early 1900s were central to ballet culture in France at a pivotal moment in dance history. This article discusses Mariquita's nascent ballet modernism through her choreography of Greek dances as well as her engagement with early twentieth-century French dance and broader cultural trends.

A Greek traditional dance program for improving balance of young children

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a dance program on static and dynamic balance in young children (6.62 ± .65 years old). Forty-six children were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (24 children) who took part in a four-week dance program (three times a week, total 12 sessions, 45 min/session), or a control group (22 children). The dance program was a combination of Greek dances and Laban’s movement concept specifically designed for improving balance in young children. Prior to and after the intervention, the participants were assessed in static balance (one leg stance), dynamic balance and the jump-landing test. The results showed that the dance group performed significantly better in dynamic balance and peak-to-peak amplitude of Center of Pressure (CoP) in the mediolateral direction and total excursion of the CoP. There were no significant differences of the CoP displacement in anteroposterior direction and the jump-landing-test. It may be concluded that the dance program constitutes an effective activity for the development of young children’s static and dynamic balance. As balance is crucial for children’s motor development and the reduction of fall-related injuries, it is suggested corresponding dance activities should be part of primary physical education curriculum.

Samuel N. Dorf, Performing Antiquity: Ancient Greek Music and Dance from Paris to Delphi, 1890–1930

Samuel N. Dorf, <i>Performing Antiquity: Ancient Greek Music and Dance from Paris to Delphi, 1890–1930</i>

Mouvement, regard et son dans la Newest Sappho

Abstract In Greek Archaic poetry song, dance, music and text interact through multisensorial emotions (empathy, pleasure) and synaesthesias (sound/sight/movement), represented and perceived in textual devices and real or imaginary performances. In a group of poems in the Newest Sappho (frs 15, 16, 16a, Kypris Song) eros prevails, connecting the audience/readers and ego, as feeling, thinking, and acting subjects. Frs 9, 17, 18, and the Brothers Song are more about public rituals, journeys, and family relations. Fr. 5 is composite: impulses of love share characteristics with addresses to deities or parents. These texts all have a unique sound-and-dance style, as confirmed by Sappho’s frs 1, 31, 44-44a, 58-59, 94, and this sensorial approach may support a transdisciplinary and sensitive conception of philology, by enhancing our appreciation of poetry as embodied experience: simultaneously emotional, aesthetic, cognitive, and intersubjective.

The Concept of Therapy in Ancient Greek Texts &amp; Dance Practices

In the context of the research effort of the Ancient Orchesis Study Group to reconstitute the philosophical and wider cultural presuppositions that define the ancient Greek dance culture, from which the Greek-speaking and Roman world was removed, to return with the Renaissance in a new European context, along with the recognition of the basic anthropological, on the one hand, aesthetic, on the other hand, criteria and principles of art and, in particular, of dance expression, we attempt a review of certain concepts like θεραπεία, κάθαρσις, ἔρως and finally δρᾶμα, χορός &amp; ὄρχησις-which stand for characteristic phenomena of ancient Greek culture. This article plays the role of an introduction into the philosophical-historical investigation and understanding of concepts of intrinsic importance in the question about relating philosophy with art and therapy in the ancient world.

The effect of an interdisciplinary Greek traditional dance programme on Middle School students’ goal orientation and anxiety

Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of an interdisciplinary program of Greek folk dance, with topics from history and geography on Middle School students’ goal orientation and anxiety level. The sample consisted of 260 students (134 boys &amp; 126 girls). The experimental group (n=144) followed the interdisciplinary four-week program (two lessons per week) while the control group (n=126) followed the corresponding typical physical education program. For the data collection, the questionnaire used was the “Goal orientation” by Papaioannou, Milosis, Kosmidou, and Tsiggilis (2002) and the Greek version (Kakkos &amp; Zervas, 1996) of “Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2” (Martens et al., 1990). The students filled in the questionnaires before and after their participating in each program. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, and Repeated Measures ANOVA were used. Results showed that a. Cronbach’s alpha was satisfactory. b. Τhe experimental group decreased significantly the levels of “ego-strengthening” and “ego-protection”, and on the contrary significantly increase the “personal development”, and “social acceptance”. c. Experimental group’s boys and girls decreased their “ego-strengthening” and “ego-protection”, and enhanced their “personal development” and “social acceptance” more than their control group peers. d. The experimental group decreased the levels of somatic and cognitive anxieties and increased significantly their self-confidence. e. male students increased their self-confidence more than female students. These findings support the view that an interdisciplinary program of traditional Greek dance with issues from history and geography enable us to reduce the rates of ego-strengthening, ego-protection, somatic and cognitive anxiety while simultaneously increases students’ personal development, social acceptance, and self-confidence

Participation of Adolescent Pupils in Recreational Activities with Greek Dances and Their Preference for Group Work at School

Participation of Adolescent Pupils in Recreational Activities with Greek Dances and Their Preference for Group Work at School

Ο χορός ως αντικείμενο επιστημονικής έρευνας και φιλοσοφίας. Προλεγόμενα

The art of dance is now studied in the sciences and philosophy. From the time of the ancient Greek thinkers to the modern era, dance has never ceased to be considered a way of expressing multiple potentialities of culture. The way that man danced in history is also a reflection on every era of man's relationship with nature, the universe and social structures.By selecting the most significant of all references to dance that the modern reader may encounter today, we locate the wealth and variety of information and approaches as well as the interdisciplinary nature of the studies provided. However, both the historical as well as the literary sources and the more recent ethnological and anthropological approaches do not cease to remain in an informational and encyclopedic field, without completing the theoretical explanation and understanding of the phenomenon unless and until specific philosophical questions are answered. These latter ones have to do with the identity of dance experience – based on data about the nature of learning, the relation of dance to language, science or sciences (history, philology, natural sciences), metaphysics and cosmology, the functionality and applicability of dance uses in society, religion and politics. Even the meaning of dance itself or the aesthetic principles as well as the moral and educational values of the ancient dance activity fall within traditional areas of philosophical contemplation or at least are not sufficiently systematized in the direction of methodical research unless they are subject to philosophical inquiry. We will focus on those facts which can show that orchesis/dance is treated by philosophy as an anthropological and at the same time cosmological concept referring to the relation of the human being to its inner psyche and to the environment. The "intelligence" of ancient Greek dance culture that has unfolded over many centuries, in various shapes and types of music poetry, but also with a rich social, educational and therapeutic functionality, is yet another discovery of the Greeks from their earliest history.

Performing Antiquity: Ancient Greek Music and Dance from Paris to Delphi, 1890–1930 by Samuel N. Dorf

Performing Antiquity: Ancient Greek Music and Dance from Paris to Delphi, 1890–1930 by Samuel N. Dorf

Performing Antiquity: Ancient Greek Music and Dance from Paris to Delphi, 1890–1930 by Samuel N. Dorf

Performing Antiquity: Ancient Greek Music and Dance from Paris to Delphi, 1890–1930 by Samuel N. Dorf

El derecho a ser olvidado: Cómo seguir bailando en la era de la alienación digital

Este ensayo se centra en el trabajo de investigación dramatúrgica desarrollado durante la creación del proyecto de danza contemporánea Anonymo, de la coreógrafa helena Tzeny Argiriou. El proyecto aborda la problemática de las relaciones interpersonales en un periodo marcado por la revolución digital, centrándose en las tensiones que se producen entre la memoria corporal y la memoria digital. Las redes sociales generan multitud de posibilidades para la interacción y comunicación, pero advertimos cómo nuestra presencia digital desnaturaliza las interacciones físicas. En Anonymo, la capacidad conectiva de la danza es propuesta como alternativa a la alienación individualista de las redes sociales. Tomando como punto de partida el estudio de estructuras pre-coreográficas en la danza tradicional griega, Argiriou propone un léxico performático con el que construir una ceremonia física, un ritual contemporáneo.