Journal des sçavans... (1698-...)

Les Oeuvres de M. Bensserade... (1698)

La Vie de Scaramouche... (1699)

An Essay Towards An History of Dancing... (1712)

Histoire générale de la danse... (1724)

La danse ancienne... (1754)

Encyclopédie... (1751-1772)

Critical Observations on the Art of Dancing... (1770)

Lettres et entretiens sur la danse... (1824)

Giovanni Andrea-Gallini (1728-1805) , manager of the King’s Theater, London, from 1785-89, authored at least two books treating the art and history of dance. The first, A Treatise on the Art of Dancing (1762), draws from the writings of John Locke, Carlo Goldini and John Weaver. In this book Gallini examines world dance, commenting on the dance traditions in Britain, China, Africa and Mexico as well as other countries. His analysis illuminates existing cultural biases.

Lesser known is his work, Critical Observations on the Art of Dancing to Which is added a Collection of Cotillons or French Dances (1770). This book is both a formal analysis of the history of dance and a practical manual. Just as the title suggests, in this work Gallini honors the dance of the ancient Chinese and Greeks. He validates dance as art and as the foundation of human expression. He offers a comparison of ancient and modern dance and includes a collection of 44 cotillions comprised of music and choreography. He uses a system of word notation instead of stenochoreography (symbolic notation) so that the general public might learn the dances without formal instruction.

The book is a response to the attempt on the part of certain bishops and councils within the Catholic Church to suppress dancing as a profanation. He begins with observations in defense of the ritual dances of the Greeks, Romans, and Chinese. Then he argues that the church’s position is in conflict with the idea that ancient dances were utilitarian and spiritual in purpose. His goal is to show that historically, dancing was not always looked upon as frivolous. Nevertheless, he reminds us that even as early as 550BCE, Confucius had already complained that the art of the dance was degenerating!

Full Text                 By Laura Nelson (MA 2007)