In 2005, I submitted my Masters' thesis in French at the Université de Montréal. The topic of this research was an iconographical analysis dance in Ancient Egypt in the form of tomb paintings of the elite of the New Kingdom. The aim of the research was to identify the social and ideological functions of iconographical representations of dance in Pharaonic Egypt. A full version of the text in available in the form of a free ebook (see below), while a basic English translation of the introductory text can be found here.
"Social and ideological functions of iconographical representations of dance in Pharaonic Egypt"
"The objective of the author of this work is to identify the functions of the iconographic representations of dance in Pharaonic Egypt. First, she analyzes the socio-cultural context of Egypt, the contexts in which the dances appear, the movements of the dancers and the social status of the dancers themselves. In a second time, it exposes the problematic of work. The third section studies the concept of representation itself, examining its nature and functions and situating them in the context of Egyptian representations. The fourth section studies the symbolic and plastic aspects of the Egyptian canon of representation. In the last section of the dissertation, the author analyzes a corpus of around a hundred iconographic representations of dance in order to extract from them elements allowing the validation of the identification of five main functions, belonging to the social and ideology of Egyptian society.
The primary function of dance performances would have been to express and maintain the socio-economic and political status of members of the elite, who could afford to hire dancers and performers to represent them in their tombs. A second function would have made it possible to use dance performances as updates to mythical stories and thus to stabilize society and the universe. A third function would have been to produce depictions of dwarf dancers or dancing deities like Bes, who possessed apotropaic power against various threats. A penultimate function, associated with the representation of sensual dancers in the tombs, would have made it possible to magically stimulate the vital force of the deceased, thus allowing him a post-mortem rebirth. Finally, the last function of the dance would have consisted of a form of offering for the gods or the deceased.
The author concludes her analysis with a study of the elements that could make the case for future studies on the subject."
(2005) Abigaëlle Richard, Social and ideological functions of iconographical representations of dance in Pharaonic Egypt, masters' thesis, Université de Montréal, Montreal.
(2005) Abigaëlle Richard, Fonctions sociales et idéologiques des représentations iconographiques de danse de l’Égypte pharaonique, thèse de maîtrise, Université de Montreal, Montréal.
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Who is Mokusho Abigaëlle Richard?
As a starseed soul, intuitive artist, iconographer, transmitter, collage artist and travel photographer, my soul purpose is to share my higher self connection and spiritual intuitive guidance in the form of a reading or Creative Intuitive Transmission with meaning (iconography), high vibration words and artwork as an original art collage of Japanese art style washi chiyogami paper (normally used for origami). It also takes the form of color and black and white photo digital files of travel, nature, landscape, animal, urban, architecture and b&w photography. Both are for sale as wall art in my art shop and their creative process and inspiration is discussed in blog posts on this website. They are also shared as videography on “The grounded starseed” Youtube channel, to offer you high frequency art.