Nowhere is Etruscan life more enthusiastically portrayed than in their pictures of dancing. Dance itself seems to have been a vigorous and exuberant display, with sinuous arm-movements and stylized hand-gestures.
Both men and women perform, the women fully and elaborately clothed in costumes of colourful swirling fabrics.
Dance usually accompanies scenes of banquets but must have had much wider popularity. Communal activities included lively ring-dances. Athenaeus describes Etruscan men dancing with weapons.
As in Greek dance, accompanying musicians play lyres and double-pipes, while the dancers themselves often snap their fingers or rattle castanet-like clappers.
Dancers are shown with long strides, suggesting a fast rhythmic pace, and are often both flat-footed and wearing shoes, which may indicate foot-stamping.
