A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern.

  • Iwan Bloch
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    rr i I i The ballet was first introduced in England in the eighteenl century, and was received with great enthusiasm. Nover one of the famous creators of the modern ballet, wrote 1769 that dancing and ballet were ' a fashionable craze ', an that the love of ballet was so universal that not only di princes use them in their shows, but even the smallest troupe of actors and medicine vendors at fairs had ballet dancers relying more on their performances to attract the publi than on anything else they had to offer. It was Mile. Salle, the famous French ballet dancer, whc in the year 1734, first brought ballet to England, scoring a] outstanding success as Galathea in a Covent Garden per formance of Pygmalion and Galathea. The enthusiasm witl which the new show was received was almost pathological The theatre was crowded to suffocation, yet prices of admis fc sion were fantastically high. At the final performance mer had to fight their way to their seats. The presents showerec on the dancers, including sweets which contained gold coinsi 1 amounted to a fabulous sum. Later, Noverre came to Drury Lane and produced ballets A of dazzling magnificence for those days, in which Miss Lydia Thompson collaborated, wearing Highland costume. In the second half of the century Mile. Guimard (King's Theatre), and Parisot, Madame del Caro and Miss de Camp (Drury j Lane) were the stars of ballet in England. The English were very generous to their ballet dancers, and therefore had no difficulty in securing the services of the best exponents of the art. In 1802 the Italian Opera House counted among its members Mile. Parisot, Mme. Laborie of the female stars, and Messrs. D'Egville, Laborie and St. Pierre of the foremost male dancers of the day. Foreign visitors to London declared that the London ballets were infinitely better than anything that could be seen in Paris. [620] I P