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Theories of ballet in the age of the 'Encyclopédie'

"In Enlightenment Europe, a new form of pantomime ballet emerged, through the dual channels of theorization in print and experimentation onstage. Emphasizing eighteenth-century ballet's construction through print culture, 'Theories of Ballet in the Age of the Encyclopédie' follows two parallel paths--stand-alone treatises on ballet and dance, and encyclopedias--to examine the shifting definition of ballet over the second half of the eighteenth century. Bringing together the 'Encyclopédie' and its 'Supplément', the 'Encyclopédie méthodique', and the 'Encyclopédie d'Yverdon' with the works of Jean-Georges Noverre, Louis de Cahusac, and Charles Compan, this volume traces how the recycling and recombining of discourses about dance, theatre, and movement arts directly affected the process of defining ballet. At the same time, it emphasizes the role of textual borrowing and compilation in disseminating knowledge during the Enlightenment, examining the differences between placing borrowed texts into encyclopedias of various types as well as into journal formats, arguing that context has the potential to play a role equally important to content in shaping a reader's understanding, and that the 'Encyclopédie méthodique' presented ballet in a way that diverged radically from both the 'Encyclopédie' and Noverre's 'Lettres sur la danse'."--Page 4 of printed paper wrapperIn Enlightenment Europe, a new form of pantomime ballet emerged, through the dual channels of theorization in print and experimentation onstage. Emphasizing eighteenth-century ballet's construction through print culture, Theories of Ballet in the Age of the Encyclopedie follows two parallel paths-standalone treatises on ballet and dance and encyclopedias-to examine the shifting definition of ballet over the second half of the eighteenth century. Bringing together the Encyclopedie and its Supplement, the Encyclopedie methodique, and the Encyclopedie d'Yverdon with the works of Jean-Georges Noverre, Louis de Cahusac, and Charles Compan, it traces how the recycling and recombining of discourses about dance, theatre, and movement arts directly affected the process of defining ballet. At the same time, it emphasizes the role of textual borrowing and compilation in disseminating knowledge during the Enlightenment, examining the differences between placing borrowed texts into encyclopedias of various types as well as into journal format, arguing that context has the potential to play a role equally important to content in shaping a reader's understanding, and that the Encyclopedie methodique presented ballet in a way that diverged radically from both the Encyclopedie and Noverre's Lettres sur la danse.

Letters on dancing and ballets

Lettres sur la danse et sur les ballets : a facsimile of the 1760 Stuttgart edition