This chapter investigates how Christian Late Antiquity placed the dancing woman between charisma and stigma. Drawing on homiletic, literary, epigraphic and legal evidence, it distinguishes discursive constructions from partially reconstructable social practices. A semantic analysis of dance terms (e.g., choreia vs orchesis) shows why choreutic imagery could signify heavenly harmony, liturgy and female prophetic exempla (Miriam; funerary epitaphs), while performance linked to theatre and pantomime generated moral suspicion and legal infamia. Shifting attitudes towards female performers are illustrated by a case study of Theodora and Justinianic reforms. Ultimately, ambivalence stemmed less from movement than from gendered social status.
Tronca, D. (In stampa/Attività in corso). Between Charisma and Stigma: Women, Dance, and Christianity in Late Antiquity. Leiden : Brill.
Between Charisma and Stigma: Women, Dance, and Christianity in Late Antiquity
Donatella Tronca
In corso di stampa
Abstract
This chapter investigates how Christian Late Antiquity placed the dancing woman between charisma and stigma. Drawing on homiletic, literary, epigraphic and legal evidence, it distinguishes discursive constructions from partially reconstructable social practices. A semantic analysis of dance terms (e.g., choreia vs orchesis) shows why choreutic imagery could signify heavenly harmony, liturgy and female prophetic exempla (Miriam; funerary epitaphs), while performance linked to theatre and pantomime generated moral suspicion and legal infamia. Shifting attitudes towards female performers are illustrated by a case study of Theodora and Justinianic reforms. Ultimately, ambivalence stemmed less from movement than from gendered social status.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
