or Dancing, as at present practised, may be defined, “an agreeable motion of the body, adjusted by art to the measures or tune of instruments, or of the voice.”—But, according to what some people reckon more agreeable to the true genius of the art, dancing is “the art of expressing the sentiments of the mind, or the passions, by measured steps or bounds that are made in cadence by regulated motions of the body, and by graceful gestures; all performed to the sound of musical instruments, or of the voice.”

There is no account of the original of the practice of dancing among mankind. It is found to exist among all nations whatever, even the most rude and barbarous; and, indeed, however much the affluence of art may be necessary to make any one perfect in the practice, the foundation must certainly lie in the mechanism of the human body itself.

The connection that there is between certain sounds and those motions of the human body called dances, hath seldom or never been inquired into by philosophers, though it is certainly a very curious speculation. The power of certain sounds not only over the human species, but even over the inanimate creation, is indeed very surprising. It is well known, that the most solid walls, nay the ground itself, will be found to shake at some particular notes in music. This strongly indicates the presence of some universally diffused and exceedingly elastic fluid, which is thrown into vibrations by the concussions of the atmosphere upon it, produced by the motion of the sounding body.—If these concussions are so strong as to make the large quantity of elastic fluid vibrate that is dispersed through a stone wall, or a considerable portion of earth, it is no wonder they should have the same effect upon that invisible and exceedingly subtle matter that pervades and seems to reside in our nerves. The consequence in both cases is precisely the same: the inanimate bodies tremulate, i.e., dance, to the sound of the instrument; and the person who hears the sound, has an inclination to move his limbs in proportion to the measure or succession of the musical notes.

It would seem, therefore, that the origin of dancing lies entirely in the mechanism of the nerves of the body.—Some there are that have their nerves constructed in such a manner, that they cannot be affected by the sounds which affect others, and some scarce with any; while others have such an irritability of the nerves in this case, that they cannot, without the greatest difficulty, sit or stand still when they hear a favourite piece of music played.

It is conjectured, with a great degree of probability, by very eminent philosophers, that all the sensations and passions to which we are subject, do immediately depend upon the vibrations excited in the nervous fluid above-mentioned. Hence, musical sounds have the greatest power over those people who are of a delicate, fusible frame, and who have strong passions. If it is true, therefore, which is indeed conjectured with a great deal of probability, that every passion in the human nature immediately depends upon a certain affection of the nervous system, or a certain motion or vibration in the nervous fluid, we shall immediately see the origin of the different dances among different nations. One kind of vibration, for instance, raises the passions of anger, pride, &c. which are indispensably necessary in warlike nations. The sounds, for such there are, capable of exciting a similar vibration, would naturally constitute the martial music among such nations, and dances conformable to it would be instituted. This appears to be the case particularly among barbarous nations, as we shall presently have occasion to remark. Other vibrations of the nervous fluid produce the passions of joy, love, &c. and sounds capable of exciting these particular vibrations will immediately be formed into music for dances of another kind.

As barbarous people are observed to have the strongest passions, so they are also observed to be the most easily affected by sounds, and the most addicted to dancing. Sounds to us the most disagreeable, the drumming with sticks upon an empty cask, or the noise made by blowing into reeds incapable of yielding one musical note tolerable to us, is agreeable music to them. Much more are they affected by the sound of instruments which have anything agreeable in them. Mr Gallini informs us, that "The spirit of dancing prevails almost beyond imagination among both men and women in most parts of Africa. It is even more than intinct, it is a rage, in some countries of that part of the globe.—Upon the Gold Coast especially, the inhabitants are so passionately fond of it, that in the midst of their hardest labour, if they hear a person sing, or any musical instrument played, they cannot refrain from dancing.—There are even well attested stories of some Negroes flinging themselves at the feet of an European playing on a fiddle, entreating him to desist, unless he had a mind to tire them to death; it being impossible for them to cease dancing while he continued playing."

—The same thing is found to take place in America, though, as the inhabitants of that continent are found to be of a more fierce and barbarous nature than the African nations, their dances are still more uncouth and barbarous than those of the Negroes. "In Mexico," says Gallini, "they have also their dances and music, but in the most uncouth and barbarous style. For their symphony they have wooden drums, something in form of a kettle-drum, with a kind of pipe or flagellet, made of a hollow cane or reed, but very grating to an European ear. It is observed they love everything that makes a noise, how disagreeable forever the sound is.

They will also hum over something like a tune when they dance 30 or 40 in a circle, stretching out their hands, and laying them on each other's shoulders. They stamp and jump, and use the most antic gestures for several hours, till they are heartily weary. And one or two of the company sometimes step out of the ring to make sport for the rest, by showing feats of activity, throwing their lances up into the air, catching them again, bending backwards, and springing forwards with great agility."

The origin of dancing among the Greeks was most certainly the same as among all other nations; but as they proceeded a certain length in civilization, their dances were of consequence more regular and agreeable than those of the more barbarous nations. They reduced dancing into a kind of regular system; and had dances proper for exciting, by means of the sympathy above-mentioned, any passion whatever in the minds of the beholders. In this way they are said to have proceeded very great lengths, to us absolutely incredible. At Athens, it is said, that the dance of the Eumenides or Furies on the theatre, had so expressive a character as to strike the spectators with irresistible terror; men grown old in the profession of arms trembled; the multitude ran out; women with child miscarried; people imagined they saw in earnest those terrible deities commissioned with the vengeance of heaven to pursue and punish crimes upon earth.

To produce such effects as these would now be utterly impossible. For this reason it is, that many look upon the art of dancing as lost; and that the ancient dancers were possessed of some peculiar skill in executing these gestures that raise the passions, which are to us unknown. It seems rather probable, however, that the passions of mankind are now more under the dominion of reason, or some other principle, which keeps them from appearing with such violence as formerly. Hence it might very readily happen, that though these celebrated dancers, or others equally skilful, were to appear on modern theatres, they might be treated with contempt and derision. It is certain, that the ancients fell far short of the civilization of the modern Europeans, inasmuch, that they may very well be called barbarians and savages, in comparison of them. The art of dancing, therefore, is not lost, but only become different from what it was; and unless people were to live in a different manner from what they now do, it is utterly impossible to expect the same effects from any kind of gestures whatever.

It is remarkable, however, that though the Greeks were so extravagantly fond of dancing, that it entered into their polity both civil and religious, it was quite otherwise with the Romans. As long as the republic lasted, dancing was accounted dishonourable; inasmuch that Cicero reproaches Gabinius, a consular man, with having danced. It was introduced indeed under the Emperor Augustus, but the dancers were banished by Tiberius; and several senators were expelled by Domitian, because they had danced. The Greeks had martial dances, which they reckoned to be very useful for keeping up the warlike spirit of their youth; but the Romans, though equally warlike with the Greeks, never had any thing of the kind—This probably may be owing to the want of that romantic turn for which the Greeks were so remarkable. The Romans had no heroes heroes among them such as Hercules, Achilles, or Ajax; nor does the whole Roman history furnish an example of a general that made war after the manner of Alexander the Great. Though their soldiers were as valiant as ever the Greeks could pretend to be, the object with them was the honour of the republic, and not their own personal praise. Hence there was less fury, and much more cool deliberate valour, exercised by the Romans, than any other nation whatever. The passions of pride, resentment, obstinacy, &c. were excited in them, not by the mechanical means of music and dancing, but by being taught that it was their chief honour to fight for the republic.—It does not however appear, that the Romans were at all less capable of being affected in this mechanical manner than the Greeks. When dancing was once introduced, it had the very same effects at Rome as at Athens.

Among the Jews, dancing seems to have made a part of the religious worship on some occasions, as we learn from some passages in the Psalms, though we do not find either that or singing positively enjoined as a divine precept.—In the Christian churches mentioned in the New Testament, there is no account of dancing being introduced as an act of worship, though it is certain that it was used as such in after ages. Mr Galini tells us, that "at Limoges, not long ago, the people used to dance the round in the choir of the church which is under the invocation of their patron saint, and at the end of each psalm, instead of the Gloria Patri, they sung as follows: St Marcel, pray for us, and now will dance in honour of you."—Though dancing would now be looked upon as the highest degree of profanation in a religious assembly, yet it is certain, that dancing, considered as an expression of joy, is no more a profanation than singing, or than simple speaking; nor can it be thought in the least more absurd, that a Christian should dance for joy that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, than that David danced before the ark when it was returned to him after a long absence.

Plato reduces the dances of the ancients to three classes. 1. The military dances, which tended to make the body robust, active, and well-disposed for all the exercises of war. 2. The domestic dances, which had for their object an agreeable and innocent relaxation and amusement. 3. The mediatorial dances, which were in use in expiations and sacrifices.—Of military dances there were two sorts: the gymnopedique dance, or the dance of children; and the ensphian, or armed dance. The Spartans had invented the first for an early excitation of the courage of their children, and to lead them on insensibly to the exercise of the armed dance. This children's dance used to be executed in the public place. It was composed of two choirs; the one of grown men, the other of children; whence, being chiefly designed for the latter, it took its name. They were both of them in a state of nudity. The choir of the children regulated their motions by those of the men, and all danced at the same time, fingering the poems of Thales, Aleman, and Dionysodotus.—The ensphian or pyrrhic was danced by young men armed cap-a-pie, who executed, to the sound of the flute, all the proper movements either for attack or for defence. It was composed of four parts.—The first, the xiphia, or fighting; which consisted in a quick shifting motion of the feet, such as was necessary for over-taking a flying enemy, or for getting away from him when an overmatch.—The second part was the xiphia: this was a kind of mock-fight, in which the dancers imitated all the motions of combatants; aiming a stroke, darting a javelin, or dextrously dodging, parrying, or avoiding a blow or thrust. The third part, called the komos, consisted in very high leaps or vaultings, which the dancers frequently repeated, for the better using themselves occasionally to leap over a ditch, or spring over a wall. The tetraconos was the fourth and last part: this was a square figure, executed by slow and majestic movements; but it is uncertain whether this was everywhere executed in the same manner.

Of all the Greeks, the Spartans were those who most cultivated the Pyrrhic dance. Athenaeus relates, that they had a law by which they were obliged to exercise their children at it from the age of five years. This warlike people constantly retained the custom of accompanying their dances with hymns and songs. The following was sung for the dance called tricoria, said to be instituted by Lycurgus, and which had its name from its being composed of three choirs, one of children, another of young men, and the third of old. The old men opened the dance, saying, "In time past we were valiant." The young men answered, "We are so at present."—"We shall be still more so, when our time comes," replied the chorus of children. The Spartans never danced but with real arms. In process of time, however, other nations came to use only weapons of wood on such occasions. Nay, it was only so late as the days of Athenaeus, who lived in the second century, that the dancers of the Pyrrhic, instead of arms, carried only flasks, ivy-bound wounds, (thyrsus), or reeds. But, even in Aristotle's days, they had begun to use thyrsuses instead of pikes, and lighted torches in lieu of javelins and swords. With these torches, they executed a dance called the conflagration of the world.

Of the dances for amusement and recreation, some were but simple gambols, or sportive exercises, which had no character of imitation, and of which the greater part exist to this day. The others were more complex, more agreeable, figured, and were always accompanied with singing. Among the first or simple ones was the aedolaios; which consisted in jumping, with one foot only, on bladders filled with air or with wine, and rubbed on the outside with oil. The podion was jumped with both feet close. The kybeleios was what is called in this country the somerset.—Of the second kind was that called the wine-press, of which there is a description in Longinus, and the Ionian dances: these last, in the original of their institution, had nothing but what was decent and modest; but, in time, their movements came to be so depraved, as to be employed in expressing nothing but voluptuousness, and even the grossest obscenity.

Among the ancients there were no festivals nor religious assemblies but what were accompanied with songs and dances. It was not held possible to celebrate any mystery, or to be initiated, without the intervention of these two arts. In short, they were looked upon to be essential in these kinds of ceremonies, that to express the crime of such as were guilty of revealing the sacred mysteries, they employed the word khrissi, "to be out of of the dance."—The most ancient of these religious dances is the Bacchic; which was not only consecrated to Bacchus, but to all the deities whose festival was celebrated with a kind of enthusiasm.—The most grave and majestic was the hypsochromatic; it was executed to the lyre, and accompanied with the voice.—At his return from Crete, Theseus instituted a dance at which he himself assisted at the head of a numerous and splendid band of youth round the altar of Apollo. The dance was composed of three parts; the strophe, the antistrophe, and the stationary.—In the strophe, the movements were from the right to the left; in the antistrophe, from the left to the right. In the stationary, they danced before the altar; so that the stationary did not mean an absolute pause or rest, but only a more slow or grave movement.—Plutarch is persuaded, that in this dance there is a profound mystery: he thinks, that by the strophe is indicated the motion of the world from east to west; by the antistrophe, the motion of the planets from the west to the east; and by the stationary, the stability of the earth: To this dance Theseus gave the name of geranos, or the crane; because the figures which characterized it bore a resemblance to those described by cranes in their flight.

With regard to the modern practice of dancing as an art, there are few directions that can be of much service. The following is extracted from Mr Gallini's description of the several steps or movements.

"The dancing (says he) is generally on a theatre, or in a saloon or room.—At the theatre there are four parts to be considered. 1. The nearest front to the spectators. 2. And 3. The two sides or wings. 4. The furthest front from the spectators.

"In a saloon or room, the place in which are the spectators decides the appellation respectively to them of right and left. The dancer should place himself in as advantageous a point of view to them as possible.

"In the dance itself, there are to be distinguished, the attitude of the body, the figure, the positions, the bends, the raisings or leaps, the steps, the cabriol, the fillings, the slides, the turns of the body; the cadences.

"The attitude of the body requires the presenting one's self in the most graceful manner to the company.

"The figure is to follow the track prescribed to the steps in the dance.

"The position is that of the varied attitudes, which must be at once striking and easy, as also of the different exertions of the legs and feet in dancing.

"The bends are inflexions of the knees, of the body, of the head, or the arms.

"The raisings are the contrast to the bends, the extension of the knees. One of these two motions necessarily precedes the other.

"The step is the motion by the foot or feet from one place to another.

"The leap is executed by springing up into the air; it begins with a bend, and proceeds with a quick extension of the legs, so that both feet quit the ground.

"The cabriole is the crossing, or cutting of capers, during the leap, before the return of the feet to the ground.

"The filling is the return of the feet to the ground, by the natural gravitation of the body.

"The slide is the action of moving the foot along the ground without quitting it.

"The turn is the motion of the body towards either side, or quite round.

"The cadence is the knowledge of the different measures, and of the times of movement the most marked in the music.

"The track is the line marked by the dance: it may be either straight or curve, and is susceptible of all the inflexions correspondent to the various designs of the composer.—There are the right, the diametral line, the circular line, and the oblique line. The right line is that which goes lengthways, reckoning from one end of the room towards the other. The diametral line is across the room, from one side to the other. The circular line is waving, or undulatory, from one place to another. The oblique line proceeds obliquely from one quarter of the room towards another.—Each of these lines may directly or separately form the dancer's track, diversified with steps and positions.

"The regular figure is when two or more dancers move in contrary directions; that is to say, that when one moves towards the right, the other moves to the left.—The irregular line is when the couples figuring together are both on the same side.

"Commonly the man gives the right-hand to the lady in the beginning or ending of the dance, as we see in the minuet, lancers, &c.

"When a greater number of dancers figure together, they are to execute the figure agreeably to the composition of the dance, with special attention to keep an eye constantly on the partner.—When, in any given dance, the dancers have danced for some time in the same place, the track is only to be considered as the conductor of the steps, but not of the figure; but when the dance continues, without being confined to the same place, then the track must be considered as the conductor both of the steps and of the figure.

"Now, to observe the figure, the dancer must have placed himself at the beginning of the track upon which he is to dance, and comprehend the figure before he himself begins it. He is to remark and conceive whether the figure is right, diametral, circular, or oblique; if it is progressive or retrogressive, or towards the right or left. He should have the air played or sung to him, to understand the movement.—Where the tracks cross one another, the steps of each of the couples must leave a sufficient distance between them not to confuse the figure.

"There are commonly reckoned ten kinds of positions, which are divided into true and false, five each.—There are three principal parts of the foot to be observed; the toes, the heel, and the ankle.

"The true positions are when the two feet are in a certain uniform regularity, the toes turned equally outwards.—The false are divided into regular and irregular. They differ from the true, in that the toes are either both turned inwards; or if the toes of one foot are turned outwards, the others are turned inward.

"In the first of the true positions, the heels of the two feet are close together, so that they touch; the toes being turned out. In the second the two feet are open, in the same line, so that the distance between the two heels is precisely the length of one foot. In the third the heel of one foot is brought to the ankle of of the other, or seems to lock in with it. In the fourth, the two feet are the one before the other, a foot's length distance between the two heels, which are on the same line. In the fifth, the two feet are across, the one before the other; so that the heel of one foot is directly opposite to the toes of the other.

"In the first of the false positions, the toes of both feet are turned inwards, so that they touch, the heels being open. The second is, when the feet are aflutter at a foot's distance between the toes of each, which are turned inward, the heels being on a line. The third is, when the toes of one foot are turned outwards, the other inwards, so that the two feet form a parallel. The fourth is, when the toes of the two feet are turned inwards; but the toes of one foot are brought nearer the ankle of the other. The fifth is, when the toes of the two feet are turned inwards, but the heel of one foot is opposite to the toes of the other.

"There are mixed positions, composed of the true and false in combination; which admit of such an infinite variety, and are in their nature so insensible of description by words, that it is only the sight of the performance that can give any tolerable idea of them.

"Of the bends of the knee there are two kinds; the one simple, the other forced. The simple bend is an inflexion of the knees without moving the heel, and is executed with the foot flat to the ground. The forced bend is made on the toes with more force and lower.

"Much is to be observed on the head of steps. First, not to make any movement before having put the body in an upright posture, firm on the haunches.

"Begin with the inflexion of the knee and thigh; advance one leg foremost; with the whole foot on the ground, laying the fires of the body on the advanced leg.

"There are some who begin the step by the point of the toes; but that has an air of theatrical affectation. Nothing can be more noble than a graceful ease and dignity of step. The quantity of steps used in dancing are almost innumerable; they are nevertheless reducible under five denominations, which may serve well enough to give a general idea of the different movements that may be made by the leg, viz. the direct step, the open step, the circular step, the twisted step, and the cut step.

"The direct step is when the foot goes upon a right line, either forwards or backwards.

"The open step is when the legs open. Of this step there are three kinds: one when they open outwards; another, when, describing a kind of circle, they form an in-knee'd figure; a third, when they open sideways; this is a sort of right step, because the figure is in a right line.

"The round step, is when the foot, in its motion, makes a circular figure, either inwards or outwards.

"The twisted step, or pas tortille, is when the foot in its motion turns in and out. There are three kinds of this step; one forwards, another backwards, the third sidelong.

"The cut step is when one leg or foot comes to strike against the other. There are also three sorts of this step; backwards, forwards, and sidelong.

"The steps may be accompanied with bendings, risings, leaps, cabrioles, fallings, slidings, the foot in the air, the tip-toe, the rest on the heel, quarter-turns, half-turns, three-quarter turns, and whole-turns.

"There may be practised three kinds of bends, or sinkings, in the steps; viz. bending before the step proceeds, in the act of stepping, and at the last of the steps.

"The beginning or initial sink-pace is at the first setting off, on advancing the leg.

"The bend in the act of stepping continues the march or walk.

"The final sink-pace closes the march.

"The rising is just the reverse of the bend, or sink-pace, which shall have preceded it.

"Some great masters in the art of dancing, having observed that music, which is inseparable from it, was capable of being preserved and conveyed by the musical characters, imagined by analogy, that the like advantage could be procured to the composition of dances. Upon this plan they attempted what is called the choreography, an art which they suppose was either utterly unknown to the ancients, or not transmitted to us from them.

"It may indeed be easily allowed, that the track or figure of a dance may be determined by written or engraved lines; but those lines will necessarily appear so perplexing, so intricate, so difficult, if not impossible to seize, in their various relations, that they are only fit to disgust and discourage, without the possibility of their conveying a satisfactory or retainable instruction. —Thence it is, that the article of Choreography in the French Encyclopédie is universally exploded as unintelligible and useless: though nothing more than an elementary indication of the art; and an explanation, such as it is, of some of the technical terms of it."

Rope-Dancer, (chambater,) a person who walks, leaps, dances, and performs several other feats, upon a small rope or wire.

The ancients had their rope-dancers as well as we. They had four several ways of exercising their art: The first vaulted, or turned round the rope like a wheel round its axis, and there hung by the heels or neck. The second flew or slid from above, resting on their stomachs, with the arms and legs extended. The third ran along a rope stretched in a right line or up and down. Lastly, the fourth not only walked on the rope, but made surprising leaps and turns thereon. They had likewise the cremonbaters, and orbaters; that is, people who walked on the brink of precipices: Nay more, Suetonius in Galba, c. 6. Seneca in his 85th Epistle, and Pliny, lib. viii. c. 2. make mention of elephants that were taught to walk on the rope.

St Vitus's Dance. See (the Index subjoined to)

Medicine.

Dancette, in heraldry, is when the outline of any bordure, or ordinary, is indented very largely, the largeness of the indentures being the only thing that distinguishes it from indented.

Dandelion, in botany. See Leontodon.

Danegelt, an annual tax laid on the Anglo-Saxons, first of 1s., afterwards 2s., for every hide of land thro' the realm, for maintaining such a number of forces as were thought sufficient to clear the British seas of Danish pyrates, which heretofore greatly annoyed our coasts. Danegeilt was first imposed as a standing yearly tax on the whole nation, under king Ethelred, A.D. 991. That prince, says Cambden, Britan. 142, much distressed by the continual invasions of the Danes; to procure his peace, was compelled to charge his people with heavy taxes, called danegeilt.—At first he paid 10,000 l. then 16,000 l. then 24,000 l. after that 36,000 l. and lastly, 48,000 l.

Edward the Confessor remitted this tax: William I. and II. reassumed it occasionally. In the reign of Henry I. it was accounted among the king's standing revenues; but king Stephen, on his coronation-day, abrogated it for ever.

No church or church-land paid a penny to the danegeilt; because, as is set forth in an ancient Saxon law, the people of England placed more confidence in the prayers of the church than in any military defence they could make.