DANCE AND BIBLE

The digital archive Dance and the Bible originates from the research conducted within the MUDANZA project on dancing female figures in the Bible and expands to include all dance scenes described in both the Old and New Testaments in which dance plays a central role. It primarily focuses on biblical figures such as Salome, Miriam, the daughter of Jephthah, the women of Israel welcoming David after his victory over Goliath, as well as the idolatrous dance around the Golden Calf and the performances during the banquet of Ahasuerus. The archive gathers a wide range of artistic works - including manuscript illuminations, xylographs, sculptures in stone, marble, ivory, or wood, tapestries, frescoes, and stained-glass windows - dating from Late Antiquity to the early sixteenth century, produced across both Western and Eastern Christian contexts. Organized by dancing figures, types of dances, and artistic techniques, the archive offers researchers the possibility of navigating transversally - comparing iconographic themes and artistic languages - thus reflecting on the evolution, transformations, and key characteristics of the visual culture of dance in the Latin and Byzantine Middle Ages.

The archive is a work in progress, subject to ongoing phases of revision and expansion.