To Be Like Gods

Dance in Ancient Maya Civilization

Inbunden, Engelska, 2009

859 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 7-10 vardagar. Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

Winner, Association for Latin American Art Book Award, 2010The Maya of Mexico and Central America have performed ritual dances for more than two millennia. Dance is still an essential component of religious experience today, serving as a medium for communication with the supernatural. During the Late Classic period (AD 600-900), dance assumed additional importance in Maya royal courts through an association with feasting and gift exchange. These performances allowed rulers to forge political alliances and demonstrate their control of trade in luxury goods. The aesthetic values embodied in these performances were closely tied to Maya social structure, expressing notions of gender, rank, and status. Dance was thus not simply entertainment, but was fundamental to ancient Maya notions of social, religious, and political identity.Using an innovative interdisciplinary approach, Matthew Looper examines several types of data relevant to ancient Maya dance, including hieroglyphic texts, pictorial images in diverse media, and architecture. A series of case studies illustrates the application of various analytical methodologies and offers interpretations of the form, meaning, and social significance of dance performance. Although the nuances of movement in Maya dances are impossible to recover, Looper demonstrates that a wealth of other data survives which allows a detailed consideration of many aspects of performance. To Be Like Gods thus provides the first comprehensive interpretation of the role of dance in ancient Maya society and also serves as a model for comparative research in the archaeology of performance.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2009-01-15
Mått216 x 279 x 36 mm
Vikt1 134 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor296
FörlagUniversity of Texas Press
ISBN9780292709881

Tillhör följande kategorier

Arkeologi inom Historia och arkeologi
Dansböcker inom Kultur
Populärmusik inom Kultur
Arkeologiska perioder och områden inom Historia och arkeologi

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Definition and Interpretation of Ancient Maya Dance Definitions of DanceHistory of Maya Dance StudiesAesthetics and EmbodimentSources and MethodsChapter 1: The Textual Record of Dance Decipherment of Dance TextsThe Contexts of T516 "Dance" ExpressionsCase Study 1: Dos PilasCase Study 2: YaxchilÁnConclusionsChapter 2: The Iconography of Dance Identifying Dance IconographyCase Study: Dance in the Bonampak MuralsConclusionsChapter 3: Dance Poses and Gestures The Study of Body Positions in Maya ArtDance PosesProblematic PosesFrom Pose to Gesture: Reconstructing Dance Movement from Figural ImagesCase Study: Narrative and Avian DancesConclusionsChapter 4: Dance on Classic Maya Ceramics by Matthew Looper, Dorie Reents-Budet, and Ronald L. BishopCase Study 1: Dances of the Maize GodCase Study 2: The Ik'-Style Corpus of Pictorial Cylinder VesselsConclusionsChapter 5: The Architectural Settings of Dance Case Study 1: Dance Platforms at CopÁn and the YucatÁnCase Study 2: Temple and Palace Dances in CampecheConclusionsChapter 6: The Persistence of Maya Dance After European Contact Characteristics of Colonial and Modern Maya DanceCase Study: The PatzkarConclusionsEpilogue: Dance as an Image of Civilization Dance as an Image of DivinityDance as an Image of SocietyDance as an Image of the StateAesthetics as Image and ProcessDance in Ancient Maya HistoryAppendix: T516 "Dance" Expressions Ordered by DateNotesBibliographyIndex