Jane Avril: Dancing at Contrasting Institutions of Madness and Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris

The nineteenth century in France was a period of conflicting institutions. The breakdown of the monarchy as organizing institution led to a multiplicity of institutions, addressing the madness and social instability that continued to grip the country. The years between the 1789 Revolution and the Paris Commune uprising in 1871 were especially turbulent, manifesting either as a rigid conservatism, or conversely, as a reckless, almost nihilistic abandon. 

In this paper I explore two institutions representing this opposition: the Salpêtrière hospital, a place of detention and the Moulin Rouge, a site of excessive freedom. Both locations were identified with madness, particularly as it related to women, and both were central to the performance of Paris’ evolving identity in the latter quarter of the century. One critic wrote: “Of all the masked balls given in Paris […] the one for the mad is the least mad. The true Mad Ball is at the Moulin Rouge, [….] how can we recognize madness and who can flatter himself that he himself is not mad?” Jane Avril was intimate and observer of both institutions, dancing at the annual Salpêtrière bal des folles and at the Moulin Rouge, and her memoirs give insight to both worlds. 

Cara Gargano is Professor of Dance and Theatre at the Post Campus of Long Island University. As a dancer, she studied at the New York School of Ballet under Richard Thomas and Barbara Fallis, and later taught at the school. She has performed both nationally and internationally as both a dancer and actress. Her concert choreography has received warm reviews from The New York Times and has been presented in Europe as well as in the United States. As a stage director and choreographer, she has worked in theatre, opera and musical comedy. She holds a Ph.D. in French language and literature from the City University of New York’s Graduate Center and publishes in both English and French. She is twice Past President of the Congress on Research