Theatres of the Body: Dance and Discourse in Antebellum Philadelphia, by Lynn Matluck Brooks

She points out that dance both illustrated and was shaped by the politics, culture, science, and social issues of the era. In particular, two forms were emerging on American stages: ballet and blackface, which in turn influenced social dancing.

Dance and national identity

Brooks researched her book at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Library Company, and the Free Library of Philadelphia, and as a result, the chapters are rich in details of theatrical productions, professional dancers, and social dance in the city.

She focuses on Philadelphia as the cradle of the still relatively new republic, as well as the center of American culture (“the Athens of America”) and scientific discourse in that era. But dichotomies were part of everyday life. Despite its label as the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia discriminated against and “othered” Black people, and all women had few rights or opportunities. Class divides played out in peoples’ choice of theater entertainment: ballet for the upper classes and blackface for the working class, while Black people were generally excluded from white theaters.

As the United States was still forming its national identity, it struggled with attitudes toward ballet and other European arts: as refinements to be emulated, or emblems of that continent’s immorality? Philadelphia, with its sober Quaker legacy, struggled with this.

Blackface and ballet

Theatres of the Body chapters are arranged by decade, from the 1820s through the 1850s. Major events and issues included the growing divide between Northern and Southern states over slavery, the beginnings of the suffrage movement, and a popular science of the day, ethnology, which purported to classify humans by physical traits and made assumptions about their morality, intelligence, and capacities. Nineteenth-century ethnology assigned negative attributes to both Black people and women, such as a lack of brain capacity to govern, and in the case of women, a lack of stamina for work outside the home. These attitudes were reflected in the growing audience for blackface theater, which presented disparaging, even grotesque images of Black life.

The proliferation of newspapers and magazines provided a vigorous public discourse. With dance, there were two major themes in that coverage, either extolling the artistry of ballet, or condemning it as a scandalous exposure of women’s bodies. On the blackface stages, the topic of abolition and Southern slavery sometimes evoked sympathy, while others worried about the potential breakdown of societal norms and law and order.

Beyond Philly’s dance legacy

This book accomplishes a dual purpose. It’s a rich study of theatrical and social dance in Philadelphia in a selected period of history. Brooks includes detailed accounts of Philadelphia’s theaters and dance halls, the productions that were mounted, and the careers of major dance stars, both in ballet and blackface.

At the same time, it offers a broader view of that historical period, supplying context through insights into life across social strata, through the lens of entertainment and pastimes, reaching beyond mere dates and major figures.