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Women in dance


The important place of women in dance can be traced back to the very origins of civilization. Cave paintings, Egyptian frescos, Indian statuettes, ancient Greek and Roman art and records of court traditions in China and Japan all testify to the important role women played in ritual and religious dancing from the start. In the Middle Ages, what has become known as ballet had its beginnings in Italian court festivals when women frequently played the parts of men. It was however in late 17th-century France that the Paris Opera produced the first celebrated ballerinas. While women began to dominate the ballet scene in the 18th century, it was with the advent of Romantic ballet in the 19th century that they became the undisputed centre of attraction with stars playing the leading roles in the works of Marius Petipa, appearing in theatres across Europe from Milan's La Scala to the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. More recently, women have played a leading role in developing various forms of modern dance including flamenco and expressionist dance.

Women have always played a predominant role in dance, as can be seen from its earliest history until the emergence of formal dances in the 15th century which developed into ballet.

Cave paintings from as long ago as 6000 BC provide scenes of dancing women. Examples can be seen in the Addauta Cave near Palermo and in the Roca dels Moros in Catalonia. In Ancient Egypt, women performed ritual dances for religious ceremonies such as funerals, as illustrated by frescos on the pharaohs' tombs. The oldest records of organised dance and of professional female dancers come from Egypt. Especially in the Old Kingdom, women were organised into groups known as khener, apparently being joined by men only at a later stage.


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