Every dance representation is forever

by | May 23, 2018 | Senza categoria | 0 comments

If the dance accomplished in the three dimensions all the potential to carry out the objectives for which it was established (social identity, luck in hunting, fertility of the fields etc.), what could the image possibly add since it’s the least indicated medium to achieve the desired effect?

tiout2

Tiout, Atlas Mountains (Sahara Desert, ca. 3500 bC, from Anati). A hunter is shooting the arrow towards an ostrich. Behind him a feminine entity whith raising hands is standing near an ox, she is performing her gesture of cosmic mediation in order to promote the success of the hunt. The link between the two anthropomorphs is the line that connects their sexual organs.

An episode from the Bible, even if it is part of a narrative and not figurative context, allows us to understand the ways of the transition from the context of real life on to the figurative one: “Moses said to Joshua:” Choose your men and go to fight Amalek. Tomorrow I shall stand straight on the top of the hill with the stick of God in my hand. “Joshua executed what Moses ordered him to do and went to fight Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Cur went up to the top of the hill. When Moses was raising his hands Israel was stronger, but when he dropped them, Amalek was stronger. Moses was tired of holding his hands so the other two, took a stone for him to sit down, while Aaron and Cur, from both sides, supported his hands. So his hands remained steady until sunset. Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with his sword (ex. 17.8-13). The episode from the Bible clearly describes the cosmological point we are interested in: in the first phase, the elder Moses, on the top of the hill, with very little strength, performs the cosmological gesture of the adoring, by doing this action he receives the divine force to be transferred to the army of Israel. But the action of Moses is conditioned by its mortal nature. In the second phase, Aaron and Cur make Moses sit on a stone (the support) and they help him to hold his arms until the end of the battle. It’s this action of “fixation” that transforms the gesture of Moses into a superhuman mechanism capable of producing an unlimited amount of energy. If in the first phase we are facing a meaningful gesture, which is part of a ritual act (the same act of cosmic mediation is performed by the Christian priest during the Mass), in the second phase the same gesture is transformed into a unique act with no end.

ruvo1

Ruvo, Tomba del Guerriero (IV sec. a.C.). Water colour by Vincenzo Cantatore in 1838, this was painted just after the tomb was discovered. In the tomb there are the warriors’ bones and his treasure. All around the walls is painted a dance by women; the idea was to make his journey pleasant. Some of these parts are kept in the Archaeological museum of Napoli.

La Danza delle Origini

Versione cartacea

di Gaudenzio Ragazzi

15.00

C’era una volta il Torchio

Versione digitale

di Gaudenzio Ragazzi

8.60

L’ Albero del Tempo

Versione digitale

di Gaudenzio Ragazzi

4.90

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