Abstract
Histories of ballet have tended to pay little attention to Victorian theatre dance that was not performed in the opera house or the music hall. A great deal of dance was embedded in such popular theatrical genres as melodrama, extravaganza and burlesque, and is therefore best understood in the context of the wider theatrical culture of the period. This essay examines two ballet burlesques performed at the Adelphi Theatre in the 1840s: The Phantom Dancers (a version of Giselle) and Taming a Tartar (based on Le Diable à quatre). When located in relation to the generic qualities of other theatrical burlesques of the period, their particular combination of parody and serious attention to classical dance is clarified. In both plays classical dance is set against more demotic dance styles. This serves as a way of mocking the excesses of the original ballets, but also as a way of interrogating the nature and significance of the danse d’école when presented to a popular theatre audience.
Published Version
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