The Ancient Dancer in the Modern World: Responses to Greek and Roman Dance

When the eighteenth-century choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre sought to develop what is now known as modern ballet, he turned to ancient pantomime as his source of inspiration; and when Isadora Duncan and her contemporaries looked for alternatives to the strictures of classical ballet, they looked to ancient Greek vases for models for what they termed ’natural’ movement. This is the first book to examine systematically the long history of the impact of ideas about ancient Greek and Roman dance on modern theatrical and choreographic practices. With contributions from eminent classical scholars, dance historians, theatre specialists, modern literary critics, and art historians, as well as from contemporary practitioners, it offers a very wide conspectus on an under-explored but central aspect of classical reception, dance and theatre history, and the history of ideas.

Fiona Macintosh became Director of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama in January 2010, after ten years as Senior Research Fellow. In 2008 she was made Reader in Greek and Roman Drama. She is currently Supernumerary Fellow of St Hilda’s College and University Lecturer in the Reception of Greek and Roman Literature. She is author of Dying Acts: Death in Ancient Greek and Modern Irish Tragic Drama (1994; 1995), Greek Tragedy and the British Theatre 1660-1914 (Oxford University Press; 2005), and Sophocles’ ’Oedipus Tyrannus’ (2009). She has co-edited numerous APGRD publications: Dionysus Since 69 (with Edith Hall and Amanda Wrigley) (Oxford University Press; 2004), Agamemnon in Performance 458BC to AD2005 (with Pantelis Michelakis, Edith Hall, and Oliver Taplin) (Oxford University Press; 2005).