Costume for Dance in late 18th-century London: how French was it?

The King's Theatre in the late 18th century was considered to be at the pinnacle of the performative venues available in London. It was a theatre that was seen as an element of the English establishment, a nexus of society and politics, in the form of the ruling elite. The visual presentation of the players in this scenario, both on the stage and in the audience, became increasingly important as a representation of this status. The influence of France on aspects of the dance and its development was strong throughout the century, as dancers and choreographers moved back and forth across the channel. In terms of modes of fashionable dress, however, the English court and the aristocracy moved further from Paris, developing a specifically English style. Despite this, there are hints of a distinctly French style to some of the surviving images of dance from that period. This paper will discuss this relationship between the audience and the productions, through the few images of dancers produced at the time, personal writings from members of the audience and public commentary. 

About the author

Joanna Jarvis is a senior lecturer in Design for Performance at Birmingham City University and is a practising designer and maker of period costume for Renaissance and Baroque dance. She has a long working relationship with the researcher and choreographer Mary Collins. Joanna has recently completed a doctoral thesis examining the relationship between costume for dance on the stage, the women in the audience, and fashionable dress, in the late 18th century.