Light as a terpsichore meaning of a phraseological unit. Character history

Ancient Greek mythology is curious about the cult of the gods of Olympus and the veneration of their children, who represent the third generation of exalted beings. Greece was famous for its enlightened minds and artists. Therefore, the muses who inspired creation enjoyed special respect. 9 women, daughters of the supreme god - thunderer, represent a harmonious triad. They personified science, crafts and arts. Each of the muses was necessary for the comprehensive development of the state, the improvement of education and new achievements in all areas.

History of appearance

Initially, the Muses were considered inspirational nymphs. They are able to bestow talent in a particular direction or a tendency to manifest themselves in one form or another of art. Over time, the number of muses has changed. The myth says that each of them is the daughter of Zeus.

The first mention of these creatures tells of Meletus, whose privilege was reflection, Mneme, who is in charge of memory, and Aeda, whose element was the song. The ancient Greek poet Hesiod sang of nine girls, the children of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. According to legend, the girls were born at the foot of Olympus. Beautiful in appearance, they were distinguished by sincerity and demonstrated wonderful talents.

Hesiod said that if the muse decided to endow a mere mortal with talent, she accompanied him from infancy. The girls patronized those who recognized their strength and believed that the talent was not unfounded. Muses prone to insolence were punished. Ancient Greece at first believed in muses favoring the poetic sphere, but later patrons of the exact sciences appeared. Each sister assumed responsibility for the area entrusted to her. They had specific duties and distinctive attributes.


Terpsichore was the muse of dance and choral singing and was often depicted as a dancer with a slight smile. Her head was decorated with a wreath, and in her hands the girl held a lyre and a plectrum. Terpsichore dominated the harmony between the inner and outer, creating a strong and conflict-free relationship between the soul and the human body. Terpsichore is described in literary works as "enjoying round dances".

Herodotus described the appearance of the patroness of music and dance in the fifth book of the Muses cycle. In the work, the historian left descriptions concerning the attitude of the ancient Greeks to various areas of scientific activity, crafts and arts, characterizing the image and perception of muses by compatriots.

Muse of dancing and singing

The dance of the ancient era was based on the strict observance of the rhythm and its combination with the movements of the arms and legs. The myth said that Terpsichore accompanied, teaching mortals to combine the spiritual with the physical. According to her precept, in dance one should take exquisite poses and use aesthetic gestures, reflecting thoughts and mood, creating a harmonious action.

The muse of dance was an important character for the ancient Greeks and a representative of the divine pantheon. The dance was highly valued in the state and was identified by the degree of seriousness with gymnastics. In gymnasiums, there was a separate subject that taught harmonious movement to music.


The biography of Terpsichore is ambiguous. According to some sources, she gave birth to the future singer Lin, and according to others, in alliance with the god of the river Aheloy, she gave birth to sirens. Alternative versions report that Lin is the son of Urania, and the sirens are daughters.

Terpsichore is associated with, paying attention to the fact that she is often depicted with ivy, which was a symbol of the god of winemaking.

There is evidence that the Pythagorean school had a temple where Pythagoras taught his students. Terpsichore, Erato and Thalia, patronesses of the physical principle, elements, flora and fauna, were sung here.


Contrary to popular belief, the patroness of dancing and singing was invented by the ancient Greeks not in the name of entertainment. Ancient inhabitants believed that dance is an action aimed at contemplating and understanding nature, in which its own laws of movement reign. Terpsichore advised in entertaining dances at weddings and taught to convey emotions and a subtle connection with the culture of her native country and nature through movement. Dance was perceived as a harmonious movement of the soul and body in symbiosis. The Greeks knew how to hear and listen to music and associated it with the heartbeat. The lack of talent did not allow everyone to realize themselves in this direction.

Screen adaptations

The Muses are considered minor characters in the ancient Greek pantheon. The image of Terpsichore is rarely used in cinema, but references to it and the use of her name are common. The muse is mentioned in documentaries describing research in the field of mythology and theology, as well as in feature films dedicated to the art of music and dance.


Released in 1995, the film "Prisoners of Terpsichore" is a vivid example of the mention of the name of the muse in the cinema. This is a Russian-made ballet film that describes the interaction of a teacher - Professor Sakharova and soloist Balakhnicheva. The dramatic plot tells about the period of training of the dancer of the Kremlin ballet, inspiration and a difficult path made thanks to talent, diligence and love for the art of dance.

  • Terpsichore is (ancient Greek Τερψιχόρη) - the muse of dance. The character of ancient Greek myths, a popular image and symbol in art.
  • Muse patroness of dance
  • One of the 9 Muses, goddess of dance (Greek mythology)
  • Patroness of dance and choral singing
  • One of the attributes of this muse is ivy, which connects her with the cult of Dionysus.
  • Muse of dance
  • Patroness of music and dance
  • Muse, patroness of dance
  • The name of this muse in translation means "dancing"
    • Megaera (ancient Greek Μέγαιρα, “envious”) - in ancient Greek mythology, the most terrible of the three Erinyes, the goddesses of vengeance, the daughter of Erebus and Nyukta (either born by Night and Tartarus, or born from drops of blood that gushed during the castration of Uranus).
    • Greek goddess of vengeance
    • Goddess of Vengeance
    • Greek Erinyes
    • One of the three Erinyes in Greek mythology
    • Goddess of blood vengeance
    • One of the goddesses of vengeance, depicted as an old woman with snakes instead of hair (Greek mythology)
    • In Greek mythology, one of the three Erinyes, the sister of Alecto and Tisiphone (mythical)
    • A very evil woman (named after the goddess of vengeance in Greek mythology)
    • G. evil woman, on behalf of one of the three furies
      • Dike, Dike, Dika (ancient Greek Δίκη, “right, justice, truth”) - in ancient Greek mythology, ora, the goddess of truth, understood as a single law of the world order.
      • In Greek mythology, one of Or, the goddess of justice, the daughter of Zeus and Themis
      • The deity of justice, in spirit close to the goddesses Adrasta and Themis, the daughter of Zeus and Themis
        • Elizabeth (Bitsy) Andrea Tulloch (eng. Elizabeth Andrea Tulloch, born January 19, 1981, San Diego, California) is an American actress.
        • (Blossoming) one of Or (spring), goddess of flowering plants
        • In Greek mythology, one of Or (spring), the goddess of flowering plants
          • Charites (ancient Greek Χάριτες from χάρις, "grace, charm") - in ancient Greek mythology, the three goddesses of fun and joy of life, the personification of grace and attractiveness.
          • In Greek mythology, beneficent. goddess - one of the Three Graces, Three Goddesses who personified Beauty, Love, Pleasure
          • Each of the daughters of Zeus and the oceanides Eurynome in ancient Greek mythology
          • In Greek mythology, a beneficent goddess
          • Female name: (Greek) after the name of the deity of beauty and joy

Lydia Ignatenko
Visiting the Goddess of Dance Terpsichore

"IN Visiting the Goddess of Dance Terpsichore»

The hall is festively decorated. Children enter the hall to the music and perform dance composition

"Rainbow of Desires".

1st child: Attention attention!

rather all here.

see the performance

hurry up gentlemen.

2nd child: Before appearing

Before you in this room

We're probably thirty minutes

They stood in front of a mirror.

3rd child: Checked bows, pleats,

to be all right.

let's have fun spinning

dance and have fun.

4th child: today is a joyful holiday,

and there is no other day

when you can see dancing yourself!

Leading: Guys, you probably love everything very much and want dance? On this occasion, we invited a lady to our kindergarten dance - beautiful Terpsichore!

To the solemn music enters the hall Terpsichore.

Terpsichore: My name - Terpsichore,

I came to you for a holiday

because both music and dancing -

These are good symbols!

I Goddess - muse of dance.

there is no other like this

but I won't admit

you will get bored with me.

boredom now drive away,

do not let on the threshold

because today is a holiday dance,

Feast of the body, hands and feet.

There are many different things in the world dancing:

fast, light, mischievous,

even birds, even animals cannot do without them!

And the most popular and beloved dance considered at all times "Waltz".

What kind of prince complained

frozen minutes,

gentlemen in black

ladies in puffy skirts

the sound of a chord smoothly cuts through the air,

The first movements - the viewer freezes.

The wonderful Viennese waltz brings spells to us in the hall,

Takes young and old into a fairy tale.

Waltz magic music flows,

The couples will spin smoothly now,

We have fun and everyone laughs

let only the waltz sound, only the waltz.

Waltz Sviridov "Blizzard", children perform dance composition.

Cheerful music sounds, Spotykaylo enters the hall.

Spotykylo: I am funny Spotykaylo

I've been unlucky in my life:

I stumble, I stumble

I stumble day and night.

to you guys, I'm on holiday

so fast and so flying,

15 times stumbled,

25 turned over,

broke his nose, broke his knee,

banged my forehead against your wall.

In life, it just so happened -

I stumble day and night.

Came to you for a holiday dance

and tell you without lying

To dance would be taught

you unhappy me.

Leading: What are you, dear Spotykaylo,

here in the garden we have guys

love very much dance

"Rock'n'roll", "Lambado", "Polka",

"Waltz", "Kalinka",

"Cha-cha-cha".

Spotykylo: If you want, we can teach you dance. We have in away lady today dance - beautiful Terpsichore.

Spotykylo: Thank you for your offer. I would agree, of course, to learn dance. I'm not the only one Spotykaylo, there is another unfortunate lover dancing, my friend Zapinailo. Has he come to see you yet?

Children: No.

Spotykylo: And here he is!

To the music, endlessly stammering, enters Zapinailo.

Zapinailo: Very sad Zapinail

to live in this white world,

no matter what step I stumble,

I stumble, I get stuck.

It would be great guys.

You guys are preschoolers

gave me attention

taught dance.

Spotykylo: And here is my friend! Hello buddy!

They greet each other, shaking hands for a long time.

We said hello to you, but we didn’t say hello to the guys.

Zapinailo: This is true. This is not good. It's your fault, Spotykaylo.

Spotykylo: now it doesn't matter who is to blame. Say hello to the guys - and that's it.

Zapinailo: I don't know how?

Spotykylo: Well, okay, I'll teach you, watch and listen. It's very simple. Hello guys, hello! Bows.

Zapinailo A: It's very simple. Hello guys! Spotykylo: "very simple" you don't have to say only: So go.

Zapinailo: Very simple - no need to say say only: "Hello guys, hello".

Spotykylo: You, Zapinailo, don't understand anything, guys don't need speak: "very simple", Tell only: "Hello guys, hello!". What you, stupid, you can’t even learn to say hello, but you’re still going to learn to dance. Even small children know how to say hello, and you are no longer small. Zapinailo: (crying loudly) You only teach me and scold me. Spotykylo: Well, okay, don't be angry, let's say hello together. Repeat after me and bow together. Together: Hello guys, hello! Leading: well, it’s good that you finally learned to say hello and greeted our guests and children. Children have fun in kindergarten, and they start their day with a cheerful song.

A song is being performed "Kindergarten" music Aseeva.

Leading: Instead of morning exercises

We dancing rock and roll

We jump, we wave our hands,

The floor groaned beneath us.

Rock - roll - great dance

Clockwork, simple, lively.

If you are dance with us,

We will be friends with you.

Performing "Rock'n'roll".

dance composition of choice

musical director.

Spotykylo A: How fun, how fun how cool you are.

My friend Zapinailo and I will repeat everything now. Terpsichore: No, dear friends, to learn like this dance, needed patience and diligence. Take a look and learn from the guys.

A our dances are different:

Folk and beautiful.

Oh, on the mountain, on the mountain, the girls were walking.

The ribbons are red, the braids of the girls are in Russes, they braided.

Russian winches came out danceKalinka,

This Russian soul remembered the old fashioned way.

Child: Russian dance - groovy,

Let's sing the tune of the native.

We will dance with a smile,

We will show you how to move in it.

Children dance "Kalinka" "Rhythmic Mosaic").

Terpsichore: This is the dance of the Russian people, and the American people also have their own dance. It is called "Country" or "Cowboy Dance". Country in English means village. Cowboys in America are called horse shepherds. It is no less incendiary and cheerful than Russian dance. "Kalinka".

Child: Peasant dance "Country" originated in America, dance adults and every student.

He lives in the heart of everyone for so many, many years,

It will cheer you up, save you from troubles.

Children perform "Cowboy Country Dance".

Spotykylo: That's a dance! My friend and I understood everything, let's dance!

Repeat movements dance, they can't do anything.

Terpsichore: Enough, enough, well done! already doing better. I think by the end of our performance you will become real masters dance. In the meantime, I advise you to learn more.

There is another interesting dance among our guys. Guys, guess the riddle. What is this dance?

You are known in Estonia

Known to Latvians

And also all over the world

Cheerful kids.

Children: Polka!

1st child: Polka dance is a miracle, like mischievous rain.

We clap our hands and stamp our feet.

2nd child: Polka, polka, polka,

We dance with Olechka,

Come on together one, two, three,

Let's dance the polka, look!

Children perform Belarusian polka "Yanka".

Terpsichore: Expensive guests, Spotykaylo and Zapinailo, and you could be on the drum dance?

Zapinailo: Who are we? On the drum? Yes, where are we. We have only recently learned to walk. No, no, we can't.

Terpsichore: But our guys know how, and they have such a dance in their program. Attention attention "drum dance".

Children perform "Drum Dance" music R. Pauls.

Terpsichore: Just a miracle, just a miracle

This mini island

And the kids live

it's pretty easy there!

Everyone calls him

Just Chunga-changa

There is even a dance

In the style of Chango-Mango.

A dance is being performed "Chunga-changa" music V. Shainsky.

Musical composition by A. I. Burenina

Zapinailo: But this dance we we know how to dance!

start dance.

Terpsichore: Well done, well done, you're doing great dance this dance. I believe that you will be excellent dancers.

There are still very cheerful people who dancing and fun is the main essence of life. Their dancing cheerful and incendiary. These are gypsies.

Girls in gypsy costumes enter to the music.

1st child: Oh, dark-skinned gypsies,

gold rings,

our flared skirts

with field flowers.

2nd child: The field is our homeland,

Tabor is a native home,

We live big

friendly family.

3rd child: We are fortunetellers since childhood,

IN dancing - masters,

And now you can

Make sure of this.

4th child: Gypsy girls,

Get in a circle.

Let off your dance

Breathtaking.

The girls are dancing "Gypsy"(musical composition by A. I. Burenina "Rhythmic Mosaic").

Leading: So our wonderful holiday has come to an end. Our beautiful guest it's time to say goodbye to us, but we will never forget this holiday, it will remain in our heart forever.

Terpsichore: Here comes the hour of parting,

It's time for us to say goodbye

But, to be honest, it's a pity.

Break up with you.

To the world of beautiful dancing -

music, movement,

Come often and without regret.

With you guys, we will meet more than once,

Goodbye, goodbye

Good, good time!

Dance has always accompanied man. In different eras, it was part of culture, religion, education, became a profession, therapy, entertainment, sports, art. Dance kings and commoners, aristocrats and inhabitants of working districts. Dances were born in academies, in palaces, in slums. We dance in ballrooms, discos, on the streets, at home, we dance in company and alone ...

Where does the need for movement come from in us? What are we looking for in dance? Why do we associate it with something joyful and happy, with an emotional upsurge, with a holiday?

And where to look for the origins of dance? History teaches: the deeper the roots of a tree, the easier it stretches into space. What must be the roots of the tree of dance, which has given so many shoots? From what mysterious seed did it grow?

Plato said that any art is a reflection of one celestial Idea, containing all the many forms and manifestations. If we continue his thought, then what is the original Idea of ​​the dance?

Anyone who had the good fortune to seriously come into contact with the dance probably knows: if its secret consisted only in technique - in the correct inclination of the head or the position of the body, arms and legs, then almost everyone could easily master this art. But, apparently, there is something behind the correctly executed pas that makes you search and think.

Philosophy of dance... Probably, it was too presumptuous of me to take a swing at such a voluminous and serious topic. But I so wanted with you, dear reader, to reflect on questions that are much more than answers! And if you agree to the hard work of a researcher, then we can go into the depths of history together. Maybe we'll get lucky and find the answers.

Dance ceremony

Legends say that the gods danced as they created the world. Traces of this ancient dance are preserved in the movement of the stars and planets, which taught it to all living things. “This is precisely the nature of the stars, so beautiful in appearance: their movement and round dances are more beautiful and majestic than all round dances; they do what is due to all living beings,” Plato writes in the Laws.

Look, the seasons change, day and night, birth and death, the calm of winter is replaced by the active, daring power of spring. The great cultures that have already left the arena of history saw in this not just a series of events, but the law of life, the basic law of movement. And for a person who felt himself an inseparable part of nature and the universe, it was very important to understand this law and follow it.

But how to do that? How to understand that at a certain moment of the year all nature passes, and how to join its movement?

For this, ceremonies served - bridges between the worlds visible and invisible, between man and the universe. By participating in the ceremony, a person could touch the great laws of life, without even realizing it to the end, could become a participant in the Great Movement. And dance and theater, unfolding simultaneously in time and space, became the best mediators in this.

In every religion, every nation has preserved myths that tell about the divine origin, the beginning of the dance. Great Shiva in Ancient India, Osiris in Egypt, Apollo and Dionysus in Greece - they symbolized the principle of creation and movement of the world.

Shiva is the god-creator and the god-destroyer, peace and harmony are alien to him, he is constantly moving and makes everything that exists move. Shiva dances the dance of creation and death of the universe. When he takes a step forward, the world is born, and a step back destroys the world. Dancing, God destroys evil and injustice.

The Egyptians saw their life as a Way. They walked along their beloved land from city to city, from god to god along the huge Temple - the House where God lives with many faces. Take a look at their reliefs that have come down to us - they are always on the Way, they go. Everyone except Osiris - the one who overcame this law of cycles: “There is only one Life that moves smoothly forward on two legs - life and death. This cycle is repeated as long as there is a road that can be walked, merging at the end of it with the World Soul, the solar spirit, Amon-Ra, where the King of the World resides - Osiris, the one-who-has-only-one-leg " (Jorge Angel Livraga "Thebes").

The world, the Egyptians knew, was in constant motion. If the world stops and begins to disintegrate, the sounds of the sistrum, the sacred instrument of Hathor, the Golden Goddess of Love, the patroness of music and dance, restore the natural rhythm of Nature, restore harmony, order and balance to the world.

Our drums are in honor of her spirit.

We dance in honor of her greatness:

We bring her image to the highest heavens,

She is the lady of the sistra and

goddess of ringing necklaces.

When she opens her eyes - the sun and,

the heart rejoices when it sees the light.

She is the mistress of dance ceremonies.

The mistress of charm.

We don't dance for anyone

and we greet no one but her.

Egyptian dance was laconic and simple, but capacious and dynamic. Just a few basic postures and movements. A clear rhythm that deprived the dance of randomness and spontaneity. Strict symmetry, proportions, harmony of forms, the obligatory verticality of the body, deployed in a spiral, ascending to the sky. Symbolic gestures conveying divine principles and laws. An action that repeats the myth, becoming sacred.

In the temples of Crete, the dance repeated the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, helping each participant in the action to gain the experience of passing through the labyrinth. In Sparta, warriors danced before battle. Military dance developed the body and awakened the strength of the warrior's spirit, helped to feel unity and harmony.

In Rome, the vestal priestesses, performing ceremonial rites, paid tribute in dance and procession to the sacred fire of the city, which symbolized the center. Dancing played an important role in the Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries. In tragedies, the dance conveyed the feelings of gods and heroes. In comedies, the actors performed the dizzying dance of satyrs.

The author of the first ever treatise on dance, Lucian (2nd century), reflecting on dance in a person’s life and what qualities a dancer should possess, wrote as follows: rhythm, geometry, and especially philosophy, both natural and moral... A dancer needs to know everything!”

Dance-education

The wise Hellenes discovered for us one more purpose of dance - to educate the soul and body. They saw that dance is capable of awakening the soul to life, giving a person the criteria of the Beautiful, awakening the best qualities - virtues. Socrates was the first to speak about inner and outer beauty, calling it kalokagatia (kalos - "beautiful", agatos - "kind").

Just as words are made up of letters, and phrases are made up of words, so “words” and “phrases” of dance are made up of individual movements, which make up the poetry of a choreographic narrative. It can be extremely varied. It can and must develop, as living human speech develops, which is enriched and modified over time, with the development of society, with the renewal of the social and spiritual life of the people. At the same time, its function is to express deep, genuine truth. With the language of ballet, one can say something important, great and necessary truth about the beauty that lives in the human heart.

Plato, developing this concept, spoke about the proportionality of spiritual and bodily beauty. And he considered the art of music, music and dance, as the strongest educational means: “it most penetrates into the depths of the soul and most strongly affects it; rhythm and harmony bring goodness with them, and it makes a person look good too.

When did the man dance? As in all times - on holidays. And the holidays not only gave a sense of unity with each other, but also became a beautiful educational tool.

“The gods, out of compassion for the human race, born for labor, established instead of a respite from these labors, divine festivities, bestowed the Muses, Apollo, their leader, and Dionysus as participants in these festivities, so that it would be possible to correct the shortcomings of education at the festivities with the help of the gods ... The same the gods themselves, of whom we said that they were given to us as participants in our round dances, gave us a sense of harmony and rhythm, coupled with pleasure. With the help of this feeling, they move us and lead our round dances when we unite in songs and dances. Round dances (χοροΰς) were named so because of their inner affinity with the word “joy” (χαράς),” Plato writes in his Laws.

Indeed, how often dance gives us inspiration and joy! “The soul gains wings,” we say. There is a strong connection between movement and the internal state of a person. Just try to straighten up, and you will feel a surge of confidence and strength. In our practical time, which has gone far from kalokagatiya, this connection is actively used by art therapy (art treatment).

Since the time of ancient Greece, dance has firmly entered the classical system of education, every educated person has mastered the art of dance. And the etiquette that appeared in the 15th century was forever related to dance.

Each era embodied in the dance its ideals, its ideas about the virtues of man. Secular dance has become a mirror of the relationship between a knight and a lady, a gentleman and a young lady, a man and a woman. The majestic pavane of the Renaissance, the gallant baroque minuet, the solemn and strict polonaise, the impetuous mazurka and the romantic waltz, the unpredictable tango, the flirtatious Charleston, the frantic rock and roll - do you feel how the dance changes with the era? In the mirror of our time, we can easily look ourselves. By what dance will our era and our ideals be recognized? How will distant descendants see us?

Holidays have remained in our lives, only the Gods visit them less and less and are unlikely to participate in our “round dances” ...

Dance is the language of art

In the 17th century, dance acquired the status of a profession. In France, under Louis XIV, the first Academy of Dance opened, it trained choreographers, and later dancers. By this time, ballet had already been born in Italy ... But the eternal question still remained: what is the purpose of dance?

Jean Georges Nover, the great choreographer whose birthday, April 28, we celebrate International Dance Day every year, became a bold reformer. He struggled with the nonsense of ballet, with the mechanicalness of movements, returning the dance to the connection with the inner world of man. Like seven notes in music, he was looking for seven basic steps in ballet that could express the basic states of the soul. Reading his letters and his book, one involuntarily wonders if he is our contemporary?

“Let the dance now be beautiful in appearance, and I often hear that it can please and captivate even in the absence of spirituality. I agree that the technical side of the dance art has been brought to the highest degree of perfection and leaves nothing to be desired. I will say more - it is often distinguished by great grace and nobility. But is technique really all that dance should have?

Can you call it art? How is it even possible to call something that is limited only by the technique of pas, the mechanical movement of the hands, a dance? It can only be considered as a craft. After all, in order to be a poet, it is not enough to know only the alphabet!”

For Nover, ballet is the younger brother of an ancient family of arts that owe their origins to imagination and genius. He encourages dancers to study the laws of beauty and harmony, to learn to feel the beautiful. And devote all your free time to the study of history and mythology, read Homer, Virgil, Ariosto, Tasso, in order to feel the beauty of poetry.

Communication with artists will improve taste and help develop thoughts; reflecting on the works of a genius, the dancers will discover that invisible thread that binds all the arts, and learn that only by imitating nature can something truly beautiful, wise and interesting be created.

“Let the dance stop being silent,” Nover reflects, “and speak strongly and figuratively. To do this, you have to give up technology in the name of the idea.

Only an enlightened, art-educated dancer will be able to educate an enlightened spectator who will not be content with graceful but empty pas, but will crave true spiritual food.”

Nover's ideas will be developed by August Bournonville, Maria Taglioni, Mikhail Fokin, Anna Pavlova, Isadora Duncan, Galina Ulanova and many, many - trying, experimenting, making mistakes, winning, but always carrying in their hearts a deep love for Art and modestly serving it. And oddly enough, everyone will look back to the past to pave the way for the future.

Perhaps, in this continuous search for answers, everyone becomes a philosopher?

And if we imagine that the life of each of us is a dance, then what will it be like? Sad and joyless, carefree and laid-back, leisurely, fussy, or beautiful and deep? It's up to us, isn't it? After all, everyone creates his own dance, his own line of fate, looking for his steps in order to move along the road of life. And, probably, the whole question is with what and with whom do we reunite ourselves, with what do we reconnect, feel unity?

Indeed, without this unity - with the Divine, with other people, with oneself - a dance will not be born. Perhaps this is the most important answer.

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According to the legends of the ancient Greeks, the muse of dance was called Terpsichore. She had eight sisters. In the summer evenings, they, holding hands, led round dances. On Greek frescoes and vases, sisters - muses hold hands. The dance was closely connected with music, singing, word, game.

Terpsichore (Teryicora) - the muse of dance and choral singing. In Greek mythology, the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, one of the nine muses, the patroness of dance (sometimes choral singing). Depicted as a young woman in the pose of a dancer, with a smile on her face. She had a wreath on her head, in one hand she held a lyre, and in the other a plectrum. She is "enjoying round dances". Muse, reveals to people the harmony between the external and internal, soul and body.
Ancient dance was based on strict observance of rhythm, on a combination of rhythmic step and appropriate hand movements. Dancing was a compulsory subject in gymnasiums. It was believed that Terpsichore, the companion of the god of harmony Apollo, teaches the soul to combine correctly with the body. Postures and movements should be beautiful and harmonious, the dance should reflect the mood of thought and feeling.
The attitude towards dance in Ancient Greece is evidenced by the fact that Terpsichore was included in the pantheon of deities. The Greeks understood dance very broadly, considering it both as gymnastics, a means of healing the body, and as a mimic art.
There is a myth according to which Terpsichore is the mother of the singer Lina (according to another version, his mother is Urania).
According to one version of the myth, Terpsichore gave birth to sirens from the god of the river Aheloy (Apoll. Rhod. IV 892-896; option: the sirens are the children of Melpomene).
This muse is associated with Dionysus, attributing to her the attribute of this god - ivy (as stated in the inscription on Helicon dedicated to Terpsichore).
There is evidence that a temple dedicated to the Muses existed in the Pythagorean school. In this temple, Pythagoras gave instructions to his students. Terpsichore, Erato and Thalia were in charge of earthly physics, the science of elements, stones, plants and animals.

Terpsichore and dance were not invented by the ancient Greeks for entertainment and pastime. Muse and dance are the result of a thoughtful contemplation of Nature, where everything moves in rhythm according to unwritten laws.

To understand the spirit of the dance, it is enough to immerse yourself in the rustle of dense foliage. Without leaving the branches, the leaves dance and sing, giving birth to a symphony of green hues that enchants the eye and ear. It is enough to sit on the seashore for a minute, turning your face to it, and surrender to the will of the tireless rhythm with which the waves run ashore. It is enough to trace the flight of a bird or a falling leaf in autumn. Just look at how the clouds dance in the sky, taking thousands of fantastic forms in turn. In the end, it is enough just to be able to read that open book, the pages of which life flips before us every day, but in which we value - and even then not always - only the cover.

No, Terpsichore is not dead, because beauty never dies. Yes, perhaps no one will notice her presence, but everything True is immutable....
The Muse of Dance has always been, is and will be among us. True, few people already know her name and the art that she patronizes, but perhaps a vague longing has awakened in someone's body, it has long lost its wings and can no longer fly or step. And it can only raise its gaze to a fleeting vision, and the soul implores it to become again the same as before.
After all, the soul knows how to dance. It lives in each of us, and it all depends on how much we fetter it ourselves. If the soul is trembling, the Greeks called it the name of grace and harmony, that is, Terpsichore.