A Queer History of the Ballet »

A Queer History of the Ballet is the first book-length study of ballet's queerness. It theorizes the queer potential of the ballet look, and provides historical analyses of queer artists and spectatorships. It demonstrates that ballet was a crucial means of coming to visibility, of evolving and articulating a queer consciousness in periods when it was dangerous and illegal to be homosexual. It also shows that ballet continues to be a key element of the dance cultures through which queerness is explored. The book moves from the 19th century through the post-modern era, bringing together an important array of creative figures and movements, including Romantic ballet; Tchaikovsky; Diaghilev; Genet; Fonteyn; New York City Ballet; Neumeier; Bourne; Bausch; and Morris. It discusses the making and performance history of key works, including La Sylphide, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake.

A Queer History of the Ballet will be especially
useful to students and scholars involved in the growing number of courses on queer culture, theatre studies, dance history, gender studies, and cross-disciplinary approaches to literature. It is written in a lively, clear style that will make it accessible to the non-academic reader who has an interest in queer and/or dance history.

List of illustrations     viii
Acknowledgements     ix
Introduction     1
Components: spaces, bodies, movement     5
Nuns and fairies     22
Swans     46
Queer modernity     66
New York and the 'closed shop'     93
The prima and her fans     125
Dance of the sailors     142
Conclusion: Traces     153
Notes     166
References     190
Index     200