With a KEYNOTE ADDRESS by Debra H Sowell and Madison U Sowell
Illustrating Mobility and Documenting Connections in 19th-century Ballet:

Examples from the Sowell Collection

​

​

This conference will explore how dance works, dance practices, and dancers travelled, exerted or absorbed influence, and made an impact.

 

PROGRAMME

​

DAY ONE: Friday 5 December

 

​

10:00 Welcome and conference start

 

10:15 Nations in Harmony and Rivalry - chair: Sarah McCleave​

• The Noverre-Angiolini Dispute as a Rivalry Between Nations: Cultural Politics of European Dance in 18th -Century Italy, Béatrice Pfister

• The Chronicles of British and Anglo-Irish Travellers during the Colonial Era in Ireland: An Important Source for the Preservation of Irish Dance, Sharon Phelan (Munster Technological University)

 

Break circa 11:15.

 

11:30 Ballets crossing Borders - chair: Ricardo Barros

• La fille mal gardée: updating its early performance history, Alan Jones (Paris)

• Charting the Spread of Dauberval’s Ballets, Keith Cavers

• The Travels of Ninette à la Cour, Sarah McCleave (Queen’s University Belfast)

​

Lunch break circa 13.15
 

14:00 The impact of Eastern Europe on ballet practices - chair: Alena Shmakova

• A look into interwar Latvian Ballet: Mobility, Repertoire, and Ballet masters, Gonzalo Preciado Azanza (University of Zaragoza, Spain)

• The enduring tradition of Appalachian dance and the connections to the Ulster Scots, Annalee Tull Lanier (Queen’s University Belfast)

​

Break circa 15:15

 

15:30 Performance of The Admirable Crichton of Sanquhar: dancing to his death in the Court of Mantua 1581, Darren Royston and Penelope Boff (Nonsuch) - chair: Sarah McCleave

​

16:15 Popcorn /tea/ aperitif and chat time: La Fille mal gardée. - chair: Lisa Fusillo

​

17: 15 END of DAY ONE

​

.........................................

​

​

DAY TWO: Saturday 17 January 2026

 

​

10:00 Social dance in court and city.​

• European Social Dance and the Making of Modern Seoul: Transnational Influence and Urban Culture, 1920s–1930s, Mina Yang (Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea)

• Urbi et Orbi: Subscription Networks and Dance Transmission in Scotland (1770s–1820s), Alena Shmakova (Danse Antique)

 

Break circa 11:10

 

11:30 Ballroom dancing in England and France - chair: Dominique Bourassa

• The cosmopolitan nature of dances in English ballrooms during the first three decades of the eighteenth century, Jennifer Thorp (New College, Oxford)

• Pierre Rameau’s Rules: Le maître à danser, Christine Bayle (Cie BELLES DANSES)

​

Lunch break circa 12:45

​

13:30 Dance Networks in the 18th century - chair: Sarah McCleave

• Il Gimnasta – Illuminating a European Network of Itinerant Dancer-Acrobats in the middle of the 18th Century, Gerrit Berenike Heiter (University of Vienna, Austria)

• Discussion on 18th-century transmission of social and professional dance, with Shmakova, Thorp, Bayle, and Heiter.

 

Break circa 14:30

​

14:45 KEYNOTE ADDRESS by Debra H Sowell (Southern Virginia University emerita) and Madison U Sowell (Brigham Young University emeritus): Documenting Mobility and Connections in 19th-century Ballet:

Examples from the Sowell Collection

​

15:45 Popcorn /tea/ aperitif and chat time: Intriguing Images: A discussion session led by Keith Cavers and John Gill.

​​

16:45 End of DAY TWO

​

.........................................

​

​

DAY THREE: Sunday, 18 January 2026

​​

​

14:00 International Figures - chair: Moira Goff

• Europe, India, Americas and beyond: for a ‘connected history’ of the Jean  Cébron (1927-2019) dance pedagogical method, Tiziana Leucci (CESAH, EHESS, Paris-Aubervilliers)

• Cataloging the Stage: The Mission of Henri Justamant, Dominique Bourassa (Metadata Librarian, Yale University Library)

 

Break circa 15:15

​

15:30 Soviet Influences - chair: Alena Shmakova

• A European Influence Abroad: Léonide Massine’s Impact on Dance in America, Lisa Fusillo (University of Georgia, USA).

• Rudol’f Nureev’s Legacy in the European Ballet Scene, Silvia Garzarella (University of Bologna, Italy)

• From violin to piano: changing accompaniment for ballet classes in Europe and the Russian empire, Dr. Viktoria Grynenko (Edmonton, Canada)

 

​

17:00 Announcements, end of DAY THREE and CONFERENCE CLOSE

 

​​​​​

​

​​​​

​

.........................................

​

​

CONFERENCE FEES

​

£10 members; £40 non-members.

​

The reduced 'members fees' is for those who contracted membership before 1st September 2025

 

​

​

 

​