Gymnopaedia

Gymnopaedia (or gymnopedia, literally "naked sports") was a yearly celebration in ancient Sparta during which completely naked youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the medium of dancing. The festival, celebrated in the summertime, was dedicated to Apollo. Plato praises it in the Laws as an excellent medium of education: by dancing strenuously in the summer heat, Spartan youth were trained in both musical grace and warrior grit at the same time. The French composer Erik Satie wrote a number of pieces entitled Gymnopédie.\n