The Fantastic Phaeacians: Dance and Disruption in the Odyssey

This article analyzes the descriptions of both choral and individualized dance in Odyssey 8, focusing on the unique and disruptive qualities of the virtuosic paired performance of the Phaeacian princes Halius and Laodamas. I explore how this dance is particularly emblematic of Phaeacian culture, and show how the description of dance and movement operates as a means by which Odysseus and Alcinous competitively negotiate their relative positions of status and authority within the poem. I further argue that the Homeric poet uses dance to foreground generic exploration and expansion in a manner consistent with recent understandings of the Odyssey’s flexible and improvisatory poetics.