Bedraggled Ballerinas on a Bus Back to Bow: The ‘Fairy Business’

Abstract

This paper begins to explore cultural connections between mid-Victorian music hall and dance modernism by looking at the role of the female dancer and her traverse of the socio-geographical space between the East End and the West End. I argue that by examining the ‘lost’ history of music-hall ballet we might find an indigenous performative tradition that presupposes the impact of the Ballets Russes on the London stage.