This paper attempts to approach a famous but especially problematic and obscure fragment of ancient Greek poetic tradition known as Pratinas’ hyporcheme. My study has the aim to trace the “hyporchematic manner” according to which this choral extract preserved from the poetic production of Pratinas was composed. I emphasize on the special characteristics of hyporchematic poetry (dancing, metre, melody, harmony, diction) which can be detected in this ambiguous but extremely interesting piece of literature that indisputably shares poetic elements with other lyric genres such as the dithyramb and also engages verbal forms, subjects and tone relevant to ancient comedy and satyr drama. The festive atmosphere as well as the hymnic structure and form of the fragment combined with the mimic movements implied by its lyrics and diction are evident. At the same time the emotional over-excitation and the self-referential mood expressed by the Chorus, that chooses to celebrate Dionysus in the Dorian mode, subjecting the melody produced by the aulos to words indissolubly and harmonically compounded with dancing, are enough reasons to recognize that this fragment represents a particular way of choral performance and could be seen as a sample of the autonomous choral genre of the archaic and classic era called hyporcheme.
