Research
In 1966, Michael D. Coe and Elizabeth P. Benson recognized the depiction of important lords standing with one heel raised was indicative of dancing. Even after this pose meaning was identified, most of the examples were either dismissed or not understood in the larger context of Maya history and religion.
In the spring of 1990, Nikolai Grube deciphered the glyph for “dance” (read as ak’ot) in Maya script. After this decipherment, it was clear that dance was one of the public actions most often depicted by Maya court artisans. The many representations of dancing people in the artwork show that the Maya rulers and their courts were public performers. All of theses discoveries let archeologists know that dance was central to most of the public rituals of the ancient Maya.
Some interesting depictions of Maya dance of the Classic era are found on Maya ceramics and in the famous murals of Bonampak.
Read more about this topic: Maya Dance
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