TEXtiles in Etruscan DANCE (8th-5th centuries BC)

Project Information

TEXDANCE

Grant agreement ID: 839799

DOI

10.3030/839799

Project closed

EC signature date 15 April 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 31 August 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 207 312,00

EU contribution

€ 207 312,00

Coordinated by

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TEXDANCE (TEXtiles in Etruscan DANCE (8th-5th centuries BC))

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2021-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In Etruscan ritual practices, dance had a key role. Thus, TEXDANCE project proposed an original study of Etruscan ritual and religious practices that was conducted from dance props and textiles in particular. Textiles had a powerful impact indeed. The scope was to examine how textiles make us understand the movements of dance, their ritual functions, their diversity, their performativity, the ritual function of costumes in dance, and the social relations that intertwine. TEXDANCE looked into this through seven issues: 1. the types of dress and textiles in dance; 2. dress motion; 3. the acoustics of textiles; 4. Etruscan fashion and dress identity; 5. the Etruscan social organization; 6. the ritual textiles making; 7. the visuality of textiles. Among the issues addressed, the most important were: what kind of textiles and dress are used in dance? How are they used in this context? How do they indicate movements, and which ones? Are they Etruscan productions and can this be confirmed by archaeological finds? If not, what does a Mediterranean origin for the textiles mean in ritual practices and beliefs? Which social differences do the textiles reflect among dancers? Did textiles make sounds during the dance?
TEXDANCE has explored Etruscan society and its ritual dance practices between the 8th and the end of the 5th centuries BC. This was important to understand as ritual practices and the use of textiles in dance reflect a different community organisation from the Mediterranean and contribute to questioning our contemporary European community organisation.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

TEXDANCE started at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, with the collection of data to be analysed. The corpus taken into consideration in this project was made of 630 objects. This task was finalised at the University of Oxford, during my Secondment. The aim was first to understand the types of clothes used in Etruscan dance based on visual representations, i.e. their form, their material, their colour. The work consisted in creating a typology of all Etruscan clothes found in visual representations of dance and in doing extensive research on textile production.
The Secondment at the University of Oxford contributed to understand the possible relation between the body and the clothes, to deepen my knowledge in dance research, in Mediterranean archaeology and in particular in the sensory dimensions of ritual practices in Antiquity. This helped to understand both the visual representations of dance and archaeological evidence.
Back at the Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen, I started the reconstruction of Etruscan clothes with textile conservators, and I engaged in three important dissemination tasks: 1. the publication of a ground-breaking book on Dress for Dance in the Ancient World; 2. the co-organisation of an International Conference held in June 2021 and the chair of a panel on Sensory Textiles; 3. the constitution of my database.
More precisely, the Work Package 1 consisted in collecting and analysing data, especially iconographic sources in Copenhagen and Oxford, and in study trips in Europe. In a second step, the Etruscan sources of clothes for dance have been compared to the written, archaeological and iconographic sources from the Mediterranean area. This allowed me to do some experimental analysis. I have tested my hypothesis and collected documentation on textile production, fibres, consumption, dyes, etc. In sum, I have collected an important amount of data and I discovered and added to my corpus exceptional unknown pieces.
The Work package 2 consisted in training. First, I got language training in Academic German, Academic English, and Danish. I also got training in 3D modelling and computer sciences at the University of Lund, Sweden, the University of Venice, Italy, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. I received regular practical training in several techniques of weaving (warp-weighted loom, tablet weaving, tapestry). I also received training in research management and academic leadership. I attended courses at the University of Copenhagen on Research Project Management and Leadership, as well as ERC grants project writing courses, and I have been selected among the best researchers from UCPH to be part of the Forward Elite and Talent Programme for Excellence in research. Also, I attended training on 1. Data Management Plan, 2. Job Interview, 3. Networking in Academia and Denmark, 4. Transferable skills, 5. Open Science, 6. Media Interview.
Finally, the Work package 3 was dedicated to Dissemination. First, I engaged in Public events. I collaborated on the modern interpretation of Etruscan dance based on modern copies of Etruscan paintings from Tarquinia. An evening show at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen was organized in September 2021. An international groundbreaking conference on SMART TEXTILES will be held at the University of Lille in April 2022. Also, I offered teaching during the Centre for Textile Research’s course on Textile Archaeology: a hands-on approach, also at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, and the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen. I created websites. TEXDANCE got a project page on Centre for Textile Research’s website, a Facebook account, Instagram account, Twitter account, Youtube Channel. A website fully dedicated to TEXDANCE has been created: https://texdance.eu/ I wrote papers for international conferences, and this is still continuing. I also wrote articles for publication in peer-reviewed international periodicals, and this is still continuing. Finally, I organised and hosted conferences, and a database will be published on TEXDANCE website.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

TEXDANCE is the first study of the relation between dance and textiles in Etruscan ritual practices. Moreover, it has brought a new approach to the study of visual culture, ritual practices, and society in pre-Roman Italy from the 8th to the beginning of the 5th century BCE. The most important outcome of the project, which was to produce new knowledge and to disseminate it broadly, was accomplished through the preparation and publication of a book on Dress for Dance in the Ancient World, the various articles published and in preparation, as well as the TEXDANCE website. All the results produced are made fully available to all researchers worldwide on TEXDANCE website (https://texdance.eu). The results target especially historians, historians of religion, anthropologists, archaeologists as well as philologists, and art historians. The long-term result of TEXDANCE is to establish further cooperation and network in order to promote and conduct multidisciplinary and comparative European research on ancient Mediterranean societies studied through their visual culture, with the focus on ritual practices.

Tomb of the Triclinium, detail of left wall, Necropolis of Tarquinia