WOMEN AND DANCE IN BYZANTINE: EXAMPLES OF THE IMAGE OF DANCER WOMEN REFLECTED IN THE ART OF DESCRIPTION

Year 2024, Issue: 62, 131 - 148, 16.05.2024

Feray Korucu Yağız

https://doi.org/10.30794/pausbed.1399501

Abstract

It was not easy to analyze how women and the perception of women in society, whether they are strong or not, were positioned within the system in Byzantium. The main reason of this situation has been that there are very few sources providing information about the perception of women in the medieval world and how the lives of women in this period has been progressed. It has been seen that sources provide little information about the lives of women, who were defined as marginalized characters due to their physical weakness and uncontrollable emotions in Byzantium, which was the formation of a male-dominated world. The sources are also insufficient about the determining the how dancing women were perceived and in which position of these women were placed in social life in the same society. The subject, except for information that is provided by written sources, can only be evaluated in the light of depictions of two heroines whose names and the content of their dances we can obtain a little information about, and a few heroines whose names are unknown but whose depictions on the works virtually declare their immortality.
In this study, we will make a brief mention on the women and their position in social life in the Byzantine imperial system, and it will be explained through the examples that are reflected in the art of depiction: how women whose lives are shaped by strict norms, are brought together with dance, who the dancing heroines are, where these heroes stand in the social perception, within what definition or image the artists who use the representations of dancing women in their works use these women in their works.

Keywords

Byzantium, Community and Social Life, Dance, Women, Depiction Art

BİZANS’TA KADIN VE DANS: DANS EDEN KADIN İMAJININ TASVİR SANATINA YANSIYAN ÖRNEKLERİ

Abstract

Bizans’ta, güçlü olsun ya da olmasın kadının ve toplumdaki kadın algısının sistem içerisinde nasıl konumlandığının çözümlenmesi çok kolay olmamıştır. Orta Çağ dünyasında kadın algısının nasıl olduğu ve bu dönem kadınlarının yaşantısının nasıl ilerlediğiyle ilgili bilgi veren kaynakların sayıca çok az olması, bu durumun temel sebebini oluşturmuştur. Erkek egemen bir dünyanın biçimlenişinden ibaret olan Bizans’ta, fiziksel zayıflıkları ve kontrol edilemeyen duyguları nedeniyle ötelenmiş karakterler olarak tanımlanan kadınların yaşamlarına dair küçük bilgiler sunan kaynakların, aynı toplumda dans eden kadınların nasıl algılandığı, bu kadınların sosyal yaşam içerisinde nasıl bir pozisyonla konumlandırıldığı konusunun belirlenmesinde de yetersiz kaldığı görülmüştür. Konu, yazılı kaynakların vermiş olduğu bilgiler dışında ancak isimleri ve danslarının içeriğiyle ilgili küçük de olsa bilgi edinebildiğimiz iki kadın kahraman ve isimleri bilinmese de eserler üzerinde yer alan betimleriyle ölümsüzlüklerini adeta ilan eden birkaç kadın kahramanın günümüze ulaşan tasvirleri ışığında değerlendirilebilmiştir.
Bu çalışmada; Bizans imparatorluk sisteminde kadın ve kadının toplumsal yaşam içerisindeki konumundan kısaca bahsedilerek hayatları katı normlarla biçimlenen kadınların; dansla nasıl bir değerde buluşturulduğu, dans eden kadın kahramanların kimler olduğu, bu kahramanların toplum algısında nerede durduğu, dans eden kadın temsillerini eserlerinde işleyen sanatçıların, bu kadınları hangi tanım ya da imaj çerçevesinde eserlerinde işlediği, tasvir sanatına yansıyan örnekler üzerinden yapılacak bir değerlendirmeyle anlatılmaya çalışılacaktır.

Keywords

Bizans, Toplumsal ve Sosyal Hayat, Dans, Kadın, Tasvir Sanatı

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