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How and why did it start?

2007-06-26 14:57:13 · 6 answers · asked by GBG 2 in Arts & Humanities Theater & Acting

6 answers

Historically, bowing has always been a sign of humility.

Most likely the practice comes from royalty. When a person was introduced to someone of superior status and power, that person would bow or kneel.

By exposing one's self in such a vulnerable and submissive manner (exposing the back and neck to attack) it helped assured the more powerful or "important" person that they were not a physical threat. As in "I am at your mercy, my Lord."

This primal etiquette is so commonly found in ancient cultures, it only makes sense that it would evolve to a more metaphoric level. Like the stage. As in "Thank you for your applause. I am humbled by your approval."

If you want to go far back enough, animals do the same thing. Dogs show submissiveness by bowing down beneath a more dominant dog in order to show them that they are not a challenge or threat. A sign of humility.

2007-06-26 15:22:03 · answer #1 · answered by nitejrny282 2 · 2 0

Performers bow after a performance to acknowledge the applause of the audience, thank them for attending, and express gratitude that the audience enjoyed the performance.

I don't think anyone knows absolutely when this started. However, at the end of 'A Mid-Summer Night's Dream', when Puck addresses the audience with the line:

'Give us your hands, if we be friends'

he's asking the audience to applaud if they enjoyed the performance, so it dates back to Elizabethan England at the very least. However, other cultures have other traditions for acknowledging good performances that may go back millennia, at least.

2007-06-26 15:06:27 · answer #2 · answered by JelliclePat 4 · 2 0

I'm not exactly certain how the custom began, but bowing is done as a humble thank-you and appreciation to an audience sitting through the act.

2007-06-26 15:05:06 · answer #3 · answered by Guitarpicker 7 · 2 0

An 18th Century prologue spoken at Drury Lane Theatre acknowledged the dependent relationship of performers on their audience:

"The drama's laws the drama's patrons give
For we who live to please must please to live"

Actors' lives then and now involve frequent spells of unemployment such that to be working at all was a rarity and a pleasure and something to be grateful for. Bowing and curtseying in response to applause expressed that dependency ritualistically and the habit kind of stuck.

2007-06-26 15:57:29 · answer #4 · answered by brucebirchall 7 · 1 0

Fantastic answers!

I'll add that I believe a lot of early theater, like the Greeks, used masks -- and I think the un-masking to reveal the actor was part of the bow sequence.

2007-06-27 05:09:14 · answer #5 · answered by wrathofkublakhan 6 · 1 0

Paris Hilton!

2007-06-26 15:04:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0 6

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