Hyporchema

The hyporchema (Greek: ὑπόρχημα) was a lively kind of mimic dance which accompanied the songs used in the worship of Apollo, especially among the Dorians. It was performed by men and women. It is comparable to the geranos (γερανός), the ritual "crane dance" associated with Theseus.

A chorus of singers at the festivals of Apollo usually danced around the altar, while several other persons were appointed to accompany the action of the song with an appropriate mimic performance. Hyporchema was thus a lyric dance, and often passed into the playful and comic, whence Athenaeus compares it with the cordax of comedy. It had, according to the supposition of Müller, like all the music and poetry of the Dorians, originated in Crete, but was at an early period introduced in the island of Delos, where it seems to have continued to be performed down to the time of Lucian.