Dancing out of line: ballrooms, ballets, and mobility in victorian fiction and culture

241 Pages·2009·3.613 MB·English

by  Molly Engelhardt

dan ing Ballrooms,
c Ballets, and
Mobility in
Victorian
line
Fiction and
Culture
OUT OF
MOLLY
ENGELHARDT
Dancing out of Line

Molly Engelhardt
dancin out of line
g
ballrooms, ballets, and mobility in victorian fiction
and culture
Ohio University Press
Athens
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
www.ohioswallow.com
© 2009 by Ohio University Press
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16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Engelhardt, Molly.
Dancing out of line : ballrooms, ballets, and mobility in Victorian fiction and
culture / Molly Engelhardt.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8214-1888-8 (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8214-1888-2 (hc : alk. paper)
1. English fiction—19th century—History and criticism. 2. Dance in
literature. 3. Manners and customs in literature. 4. Great Britain—Social
life and customs—19th century. 5. Dance—Social aspects—Great Britain—
History—19th century. 6. Dance—Moral and ethical aspects—Great
Britain—History—19th century. I. Title.
PR878.D35E54 2009
823'.8093559—dc22
2009014835
to Gary

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction
The Natural Accidents of Dancing 1
Chapter one
Jane Austen and the Semiotics of Dance
The Manner of Reading 24
Chapter two
Reckless Debutantes and the Spectacle of “Coming Out” 51
Chapter three
Sylphs in the Parlor . . . Catch Them If You Can 81
Chapter four
Seeds of Discontent
Dance Manias, Medical Inquiry, and Victorian (Ill) Health 112
Chapter five
The Mourning After
Dancing the Victorians Past 140
Coda 167
Notes 171
Bibliography 203
Index 217
vii

IllustratIons
i.1 “Royal Marriage Ball Polka” (ca. 1840s), J. Brandard 2
i.2 “Dance al Fresco” (1868), Florence Claxton 10
i.3 “The Dance Domestic” (1868), Florence Claxton 12
i.4 “Natural Accidents in Practicing Quadrille Dancing”
(1817), George Cruikshank 12
i.5 “An Allemand” (1797), George Cruikshank 15
1.1 “The Five Positions of Dancing” (1811), Thomas Wilson 31
1.2 “The Dancing Lesson” (1825), George Cruikshank 32
3.1 Marie Taglioni in the ballet L’Ombre (1840s), Alfred
Edward Chalon 82
3.2 “The Green Room of the King’s Theatre, or Noble Amateurs
Viewing Foreign Curiosities” (1820s), George Cruikshank 83
3.3 Carlotta Grisi in Giselle (1841), Jules Bouvier 84
3.4 Carlotta Grisi in Giselle (1842), Robert J. Hamerton 85
3.5 “La Sylphide and the Bird Nest,” Alfred Edward Chalon 91
4.1 “The Waltz,” from The English Dance of Death series
(1815–16), Thomas Rowlandson 114
4.2 “Death in a Ballroom,” from The English Dance of Death
series (1815–16), Thomas Rowlandson 114
5.1 Fanny Elssler in La Tarentule (1840), Jules Bouvier 144
ix