Staging the “Bals à Chicard”: Performing a Joyous Dancing Iconoclastic Self

One of the most curious figures in mid-nineteenth century Paris was Chicard, a flamboyant, carnavalesque character, who staged extravagant dances during the July Monarchy. According to François Gasnault, one of the most popular personae in Carnaval Paris at the time, Chicard’s career spanned nearly twenty years, eliciting contemporary commentary in journals, memoires, physiologies, and novels. Chicard, whose real name was Alexandre Levêsque was a “respectable shopkeeper by day” but by night, an “intrepid dancer”. His danse chicarde was wild and excentric, “a terrifying combination of strident cries, convulsive laughter, guttural dissonances, and unimaginable contortions.” His strange costume included a helmet with a plume, leather breeches, high top boots, and gloves reminiscent of a dashing commedia capitano. In this paper I will explore Chicard’s complex role as both respectable businessman and arbiter of misrule as he stages the most desirable Carnaval balls in Paris and plays a dual role of anarchist and capitalist, not only staging balls but a charismatic performance of self that made his invitation-only balls both exclusive and riotous.

Cara Gargano is Professor of Dance and Theatre at Long Island University. As a dancer, she studied at the New York School of Ballet and later taught at the school. She has performed in the United States and Europe. Her concert choreography received warm reviews from The New York Times A stage director and choreographer, she has worked in theatre, opera and musical comedy. Cara holds a Ph.D. in French. A member of the International Association for University Theatre, and the International Federation for Theatre Research, the Modern Language Association, and the Dance Studies Association, Gargano is twice Past President of the Congress on Research in Dance and has served as a choreography peer reviewer for the National Dance Association’s Promotion and Tenure Initiative. As President of the Congress on Research in Dance she organized three international conferences, in Quebec, Taiwan, and Paris.