Aside from the problem of the intention of the document and its reliability (is it depicting fantasy? is it parody?) there is also, as has been mentioned, a problem with reconstructing dance movement through a 2-d, static medium.  I would add that ancient Egyptian art is obviously not strictly representational, which adds to this difficulty.  Could they be related? Certainly.  Is this one papyrus proof that they are? Hardly.

As an anthropologist and folklorist myself, I would also like to point out that the historical origins of material or social culture are only one aspect of what that piece of culture means in contemporary society.  Societies assign meaning to aspects of their culture which is timely to them and reflects how they live today, what it means to be a member of their society.  So, while this papyrus may indicate a link between ancient erotic dancing and contemporary Egyptian raqs sharqi– and the idea is certainly intriguing and should be researched more by dance ethnologists and historians– this does not essentially mean that it is erotic and sexual now.

An example from our own culture would be a bride wearing white at her wedding, to symbolize virginity.  These days, fewer and fewer American brides are virgins, yet white is still the color of choice, even for second weddings.  Even acknowledging the tradition’s roots with Queen Victoria’s wedding (where it began as a matter of fashion and not a declaration of virginity, which would have been understood) , does this mean that when we see a bride in white we would be shocked to find that she is not a virgin? Of course not.  The meaning of a white dress is not rigid, even after a mere one and a half centuries after the fact.  Raqs sharqi, in contrast to a white wedding gown, is much older, and is a blend of many different influences spanning across a body of closely-related cultures.  Even if it could be said to have its roots here, can we honestly say that it has only one point of origin, and one static meaning?

Nice thought, but I have to ask you for examples. I think it’s pretty easy to see the heavy influence of Islam on Egyptian culture since Egypt is not the only Muslim majority country in the world. <–I don’t know if I worded that sentence in a coherent way.  What exactly do you think is pharaonic about Egyptian culture today?

It is true that some styles of dance in that above period I research were erotically changed. Yet they were different from, say, modern strip clubs — much more active, with moves that used space in the room, enticing via athleticism, if you will. And I wonder, as I read an article with no information on exactly what movement vocabulary these Egyptians utilized — how do we know it’s the same, or a similar, dance as what we do today? What moves does the writer discern from these images, and what is her process for understanding said moves? how can she make said conclusions when anyone who’s seen images of dancers knows that the costumes tell us as much, and oftentimes clue us into, the dance — and that paintings are often symbolically-charged, as well?

These are the questions that leap to my mind, when I read this article.

The artist appeared dissatisfied with life as it was, perhaps because he lived at the end of Ramesses II’s reign and things had been the same for 80 years (Ramesses II died at the age of 90 something). He was depicting life as he perceived it, not the official, condoned state version. He saw the adepts of Hathor as women engaging in sex. These women were shown with sistrum and a lyre or two. To archeologists the belt the women wore and their lack of clothes also indicated their Hathorian association. The adepts of Hathor have been associated with hip-jiggling dances since pre-dynastic times (the dance-jewelry found with them in their tombs – for the hips, the raised arm dances imitating horned cattle that were passed down). It was these facts the program was referring to, but I did not mention in the article. There are other facts I did not mention because I have not finished the research yet. But I will say that all of this came about because I was researching the origins of finger cymbals. Their predecessors, clappers, were the ultimate Hathorian object, along with sistra – used for dance and believed to be a powerful sexual object – the Hand of God.

But I have to finish the research first. After that I will have even more sources to site. But I am very happy to have started this discussion. I would like to add that I believe Egyptian culture today reflects a great deal of its pharaonic roots, perhaps more so than the cultures that conquored it later. The pharaohs ruled Egypt off and on for almost 3000 years. The followers of Islam have been there only since about 670 AD – 1400 years. Just a thought.

Interesting article and makes some good points, but I do have some questions and thoughts.

1) Can we really reconstruct dances from paintings (and sculpture for that matter)? Dance involves movement (that is 3-dimensional and exists in time), performance space, social context and interactions with musicians/audience/other dancers. A lot of that is lost in the static visual depictions.
2) How much is the way we interpret the paintings influenced by our own societies and world-view? The Victorian scholars, and also Lexova in the early 1900s, refused to see in the ancient paintings anything that resembles the “lewd performances of modern Egypt”, perhaps due their own moral biases. But, do we see “ancient belly dancers” everywhere, from Egyptian tomb paintings to prehistoric cave carvings in Europe, because belly dance happens to be trendy right now?
3) Professional dance often is based in folk/popular and social dances (classical ballet would be just one example). On the other hand, the aesthetics created by the pros influences back the popular dances. Why this argument folk vs professional origins in case of belly dance?
4) Why is folk automatically perceived as non-sexual and professional as sexual?
5) Why sexuality in dance is usually understood to mean “being seductive”, when it can appear also as vitality, charisma, etc?