sports dictionary Dance sports - DIONYSIA

Dance sports DIONYSIA ancient Greek dances during the festival in honor of Dionysus (Bacchus), the same as the Bacchanalian dances. The priestesses of this mystical cult were women called maenads... in memory of the nymphs who taught Dionysus Bacchus. At night, by torchlight, a fantastic procession was arranged. Flutes, sistrums, triangles, tympanums, and cymbals mingled with the chaotic chanting and yelling of the" frantic " maenads, who danced with their bodies bent far back and raced rapidly forward… But when the procession reached the gods altar, the maenads performed a more or less regular mimic dance… The maenad dance consisted of various tilts of the body and head, and most importantly, a whole system of movements of the arms and hands, which obviously contained some meaning that was completely incomprehensible to us… As for the pas, which were made by maenads, it can be noted that there were no jumps or pointe shoes, and all of them were limited to one twisting on half-pointe shoes, and the movements of the dance consisted in running back and forth in a circle one after another (N. Vashkevich. History of choreography); Maenads race through the forest that grows along the seashore. Maskalae, fierce-chested, howls, shaking a sycamore-made phallus. They are all covered with bassaris and crowned with vine leaves, and they run and shout as they jump. The crotals click in their hands, and the thyrses tear the skin of the ringing tympanums. Wet-haired, swift-footed, with beating red breasts, sweaty cheeks, foaming lips, they offer You back the love You breathed into them (Bilitis. Maenads). Wed. bacchanals, bacchanalian dances.