Bussagli, Mario. (1963). Painting of Central Asia. Skira: Geneva.
Contains several illuminations of dancers all taken from paintings from Central Asia during period.
Frasier, Angus. (1992). The Gypsies. Blackwell: Cambridge. pp 123, 205-208.
The pages listed contain descriptions or quotes which mention Gypsies dancing. Dersin, Denise. (Eds.). (1998). What life was like amid splendor and
intrigue: Byzantine empire AD 330-1453. Time Life Books: Alexandria p. 79.
Depicts a group of women circle dancing with musicians in the center of
the circle from the eleventh century. Very similar to the way middle eastern circle dances take place today. Irwin, Robert. (1997). Islamic art in context: Art, architecture and the
literary world. Harry N. Abram, Inc.: New York. p 105.
This book contains an illumination of a dancing girl from the Palestinian region.
Ker, Walter. (Tr.). (1947). Epigrams. Loeb Classical Library Harvard University Press: Cambridge.
Contains quotes from pre-period which discuss women performing middle eastern dance.
Ramsey, G.G. (Tr.). (1924). Juvenal and Persius. Putnam: New York.
Contains quotes from Roman historians discussing middle eastern dance.
Bose, Mandakranta. (1991). Movement and mimesis: The idea of
dance in the Sanskritic tradition. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, Netherlands.
A comprehensive review of the literature on Indian dance and
discussion of period dance treatises written in Sanskrit. The sources from the bibliography will keep you busy for years.
Coomaraswamy, Ananda. (1924). Catalogue of the Indian collections in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum of Fine Arts: Boston.
A very fine secondary source which discusses the illuminations and text from a period manuscript. Women are depicted as mothers, dancers, servants, and nuns.
Nawab, Vidya S. (1964). 419 Illustrations of Indian music and dance in western Indian style. Sarabhai Manilal Nawab: India.
A fantastic find! The illustrations show the progression of period Indian dance moves and the text discusses several period dance texts.
Beach, Milo (1987). Early mughal painting. Harvard University Press: Cambridge pp 42-43.
Displays illuminations of Persian dancers. Burlington House: London (1931). Persian art: An illustrated souvenir of the exhibition of Persian art at Burlington House London.
Hudson & Kearns LTD p 37.
This book will be very difficult to find - we lucked onto it! However, it has an illumination of a man and a woman dancing together at a picnic. The
only in period illumination that we have found of men and women dancing together. Ettinghausen, Richard. (1962). Arab painting. The World Publishing Company: Cleveland p 51.
Contains a picture of one of the "Zodiac Dancers". There are several of these drawings which represent symbols of the zodiac as Persian
dancers and often display moves not seen in the court illuminations. Ettinghausen, Richard & Grabar, Oleg. (1987). The art and
architecture of Islam: 650-1250. Penguin Books: London p 65, 200, 205 & 252.
Another picture of the "Zodiac Dancers" mentioned above. Also
contains a ceramic plate which depicts an Egyptian "scarf dancer" from the twelfth century.
Falk, Toby and Archer, Mildred. (1981). Indian miniatures in the India
office library. Sotheby Parke Bernet: London p 390 fig. 68.
Pictures two Persian dancers from the late 1500's.
Ganjevi, Nizami. (1983). Khamsa miniatures. (Note: this book is in
Russian type) p 117.
A wonderful book, but difficult to find. This book was printed in Russia and so the text is pretty useless to English speakers, however the
difference in painting style allows some nice comparisons. The page cited shows a Persian dancer in the classic pose of this era.
Gray, Basil. (1961). Persian painting. The World Publishing Company: Cleveland p 137.
A wonderful illumination of two Persian dancers performing at a Picnic
with musicians pictured as well. Also shows some unique costume elements for dancers. Lewis, Bernard. (Ed.). (1976). The world of Islam: Faith, people,
culture. Thames and Hudson: London p 173.
This book is a wonderful source for many things middle eastern. The page cited shows a Persian dancer in one of the rare hip movements
that we have found as well as the musicians who played for her. Milstein, Rachel. (1984). Islamic painting in the Israel museum. The Israel Museum: Jerusalem p 71.
The page cited depicts two Persian dancers with female musicians. There are also several illuminations of male dancers.
Pope, Arthur. (Ed.). (1938). A survey of Persian art from prehistoric times to the present. (vol. 5). Oxford University Press: New York.
This volume contains the only depiction that we have found of floor work in Persian dance. The book also contains a page with a series of
"Zodiac Dancers" and a book cover which depicts two men dancing at a picnic. Pope, Arthur. (Ed.). (1939). A survey of Persian art from prehistoric
tomes to the present. (vol. 6). Oxford University Press: New York.
This volume shows a male dancer at a picnic. Pope, Arthur. (Ed.). (1964). A survey of Persian art from prehistoric
times to the present. (vol. 7). Oxford University Press: New York p 221.
This volume contains an etched bowl which depicts two Persian dancers. One dancing with an unusual zil instrument and the second
with a veil. Soudavar, Abolala. (1992). Art of the Persian courts. Rizzoli: New York pp 90,111,133 & 247.
At this point we have only seen copies from this book. However, the
pages above have interesting and unusual Persian dancers depicted. One is a circle dance being done by women! A great find!
Titley, Norah. (1984). Persian miniature painting and its influence on the art of Turkey and India. University of Texas Press: Austin pp 90 & 98.
This book contains two separom medieval to modern times. Markus Wiener Publishers: Princeton.
An absolutely fantastic book on women during period. Those looking for
documentable women's names would find this an excellent source. There is mention of historical sources, one of which discusses the women who danced in the harem.
Brooks, L. (1988). Women and the dance in Seville's processions during the golden age. Dance Chronicle: Studies in Dance and the Related Arts, 2, 1 pp 1-30.
This is an excellent article which discusses the women who ran public dance troupes in Seville during the 1500's. The author also mention dance steps which are still performed today in Flamenco.
Smith, Bradley. (1966). Spain: A history in art. Doubleday and Company: Garden City. p. 84.
The author discusses the history of dancing girls from Cadiz.
And, Metin. (1994). Istanbul in the 16th century: The city, the palace, daily life. Akbank Culture and Art: Istanbul.
A fantastic book with an entire chapter on the dancing women and boys of Turkey. There are also European paintings of these dancers in the
book from period. This allows a nice contrast with the stylized Turkish illuminations found elsewhere.
(These sources are not in period, but we consider them good places to start.)
Ambrose, Kay. (1950). Classical dances and costumes of India. Adam and Charles Black: London.
A nice place for those interested in Indian dance to start. The book does
contain copies of cave drawings from period which show men dancing with short sticks. Dolmetsch, M. (1975). Dances of Spain and Italy from 1400 to 1600. Da Capo Press: New York.
A wonderful book which discusses dances from Spain, complete with the European choreography. Many of these individual steps are still used in Flamenco today.
Lexova, Irena. (1935). Ancient Egyptian dances. Oriental Institutue:
Prague.
A very interesting book which seeks to prove that Egyptian dance has
nothing to do with "Belly Dance". Unfortunately, many of the hieroglyphs in the book seem to prove a relationship instead. Many nice
male dancers. Footwork that is still done today in "Belly Dance" and one hieroglyph which bears a strong resemblance to movements from the Guedra.
Saleh, M. (1979). A documentation of the ethnic dance traditions of the Arab Republic of Egypt. New York University.
A very useful source which documents many traditional dances of
Egypt. It allows a strong comparison with period sources.
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