Theatre Dancers at the Court of Queen Anne

Abstract

When fierce competition between London’s two theatre companies in the late 1690’S led to the engagement of the French dancers Anthony l’Abbe and Claude Balon for Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre, these celebrated performers were summoned to dance before King William at Kensington Palace. Virtuoso French dancers were engaged on the London stage throughout the reign of Queen Anne, despite the war with France, together with English female dancers trained in the French tradition. These stage dancers appeared in the theatrical entertainments that were a traditional part of celebrations at court, particularly on the monarch’s birthday. Dancers played an important role in the birthday celebrations of 1704-1707, but in the later years of the Queen’s reign they were at least partially eclipsed by Italian castrati and foreign prima donnas.