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

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

 

PROGRAMME

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DAY ONE: Friday 21 November

 

10:00 Welcome and conference start

 

10:15 Nations in Harmony and Rivalry

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

• 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 12:00.

 

13:00 Ballets crossing Borders

• 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)

 

14:45 Popcorn /tea/ aperitif and chat time: La Fille mal gardée. Delegates are invited to nominate scenes/performances you’d like us to sample, on which you’d be prepared to say a few words what you find interesting or what you suggest we look for in the performance. Alternatively, recollections of performances from a participant’s perspective are very welcome. Deadline for nominations (Online video URLS requested at this time): 1 September, to eadhchair@gmail.com

 

 

16:15 The impact of Eastern Europe on ballet practices

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

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

 

END of DAY ONE

 

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DAY TWO: Saturday 22 November

 

10:00 Social dance in court and city.

• The Admirable Crichton of Sanquhar: dancing to his death in the Court of Mantua 1581, Darren Royston and Penelope Boff (Nonsuch), 

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

 

Break circa 11:00

 

11:15 Ballroom dancing in England and France

• 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)

 

Break circa 12:30

 

1:15 Transmission of Social Dance

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

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

 

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. Conference delegates can nominate one painting or sketch each, about which they will either say a few words on its interest /intrigue or pose a question to the discussion leads. Deadline for submission of images and queries: 1 September, to eadhchair@gmail.com.

 

 

End of DAY TWO

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DAY THREE: Sunday, 23 November

 

14:00 Choreographers

• 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)

 

15:15 Break

 

15:30 International Figures

• 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)

 

16:40 Announcements and conference close

 

End of DAY THREE

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CONFERENCE FEES

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£10 members; £40 non-members.

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

 

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