Χορός: A stage-shifting periact on which all the earth will dance. A Paradigm for dance from Antiquity to Byzantium and beyond

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This article aims to contribute to Iconodansa with a new rich concept (χορός), which could be translated as dance, as well as performative (dancing) space. Thus, χορός is a prolific tool for the research of the choral space. The author puts forth the syntagm Byzantine Chorography as the inscription of sacred space, χώρα, by the mystical dance, χορός. The originality of this concept stands in unveiling and enforcing an important paradigm (χορός), which has deep roots in ancient practices, in which it was imagined as a kind of stage-shifting periact on which “all the Earth will dance” (Euripides, Bacchae 114). In the Christianworld, dance had too a cosmological and initiatic dimension. The ontological state of being as a dancing man actually justifies and gives full meaning to the Passions of Christ, which are necessarily experienced so “That Adam may dance (Romanos the Melodist, De passione). Here, Adam stands for the whole humanity. However, the Byzantine χορός reflects a unique ontology, a new mode of being in the world and a new vision. As Agamben says, the paradigmatic character of things lies not in the things themselves but in being. Therefore,
this vision of χορός, while joining Iconodansa, where many visions of the dance have been shared, could only be seized, like any other dance, in its own “exemplary constellation.”
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDanses imaginades, danses relatades. Dancing Images and Tales : Paradigmes iconogràfics del ball des de l’Antiguitat clàssica fins a l’edat mitjana. Iconography of dance from Classical to Middle Age
EditorsLicia Buttà, Jesús Carruesco, Francesc Massip, Eva Subías
Number of pages14
VolumeT R A M A 1 TREBALLS D’ARQUEOLOGIA DE LA MEDITERRÀNIA ANTIGA
Place of PublicationTarragona
PublisherInstitut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica
Publication date2014
Pages51-64
ISBN (Print)978-84-942034-1-1
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Bibliographical note

Seminari Internacional “Danses imaginades, danses relatades. Paradigmes iconogràfics del ball des de l’Antiguitat clàssica fins a l’Edat Mitjana”, celebrat el 3 de desembre del 2012, organitzat pel Grup de Recerca ICONODANSA (Universitat Rovira i Virgili, URV).

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