The first Oxford Dance Symposium at New College, Oxford took place on 21 April 1999 with Dance on the English Stage, and has become an annual, international event which attracts scholars and practitioners from many parts of the world. Each symposium is designed to explore different aspects of dance, with particular reference to its musical, theatrical, literary and social context in Britain and Europe during the long 18th century; as such has embraced subjects ranging from the 17th-century Stuart Masque and French ballet de cour to early 19th-century opera and ballet. There is a particular emphasis on new research or new appraisals of existing sources. Although the symposium issues no Proceedings, some of the papers from several symposia have been published as books of essays or as individual papers in academic journals. The symposium is organised each year by Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp.
Symposia XXVXIX: Characters on Stage: real, symbolic, imaginary, April 2027 XXVIII: Staging Dance, April 2026 XXVII: Dancing Objects, April 2025 XXVI: Dance and Institutions, April 2024 XXV: Dance, Costume and Scenography, April 2023 XXIV: Dancing in Town and Country, April 2022Ann Hinchcliffe, 'Oxford Symposium of Dance 2022', Historical Dance Society Newsletter, (Winter, 2020/2023), 23. http://www.dhds.org.uk/ XXIII: Watching Dance, Dancers, and Audiences, April 2021 XXII: COVID-19 XXI: Reading Dance, April 2019 XX: Dance and Drama, April 2018 XIX: Dance and the City, April 2017 XVIII: Teaching Dance, April 2016 XVII: Dancing for Anniversaries and Occasions: Chamber, Court, Theatre & Assembly, April 2015 XVI: The dancer in celebrity culture in the long 18th-century: reputations, images, portraits, April 2014 XV: Living, dancing, travelling, dying: dancers’ lives in the long 18th century, April 2013Katja Vaghi, 'Living, dancing, travelling, dying: dancers’ lives in the long 18th century', Early Dance Circular, (May 2013). http://www.earlydancecircle.co.uk Adeline Mueller, 'Dancers’ lives in the long 18th century', Early Music, 41/3 (2013), 541–542. XIV: Dancing in the theatre of Europe in the long 18th century, April 2012Moira Goff, 'Dancing in the theatre of Europe', Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society Newsletter, (October, 2012). http://www.dhds.org.uk/ Arnold DolmetschJasmine Chiu, 'Dancing in Oxford', Early Music, 40/2 (2012), 349-351. XIII: Dance and the novel, May 2011 XII: Jean-Georges Noverre and his circle, April 2010 XI: Dance and Image, May 2009Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, guest editors, 'Dance and Image', Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography, XXXVI (2011). http://rcmi.gc.cuny.edu/?page_id=65 X: Dancing in Royal Palaces, May 2008Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, guest editors, 'Dancing in Royal palaces', The Court Historian, 15/2 (December 2010). http://www.courtstudies.org/ The Court Historian IX: French and English Pantomime, May 2007Moira Goff, 'French and English Pantomime 1682-1782', Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society Newsletter, (May 2007). http://www.dhds.org.uk/ Arnold Dolmetsch VIII: Dancers Abroad, May 2006Moira Goff, 'Report', Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society Newsletter, (October 2006). http://www.dhds.org.uk/ Arnold Dolmetsch VII: 'Counting sheep'; Dance and the Pastoral, April 2005Gulliver Ralston, 'Seventh Annual Dance Symposium: Dance and the Pastoral', 18th-century Music, ii/2 (2005), 384-86. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=ECMPapers from this conference can be found in Early Music, xxvi/4 (2007). http://em.oxfordjournals.org/ VI: Royal Ballet de la Nuit, April 2004Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, eds., The Ballet de la Nuit: ROTHSCHILD B1/16/6 (Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press, 2009) http://www.pendragonpress.com/.Juliet Carey, 'Le ballet de la nuit', Early Music, xxxiii/3 (2004), 486-67. http://em.oxfordjournals.org/ see Ballet Royal de la Nuit. V: Roi Soleil and Soleil Dieu, March 2003 IV: Dancing Exploded, October, 2002 III: Gods, Men and Monsters, April 2001Gulliver Ralston, ‘Gods, men and monsters’, Early Music, xxix/3 (2001), 489-90.' http://em.oxfordjournals.org/ II: 'So Publick an Approbation': attitudes to dance in 18th-Century England, April 2000Jennifer Thorp, 'Oxford Conference: So public an approbation', Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society Newsletter, (May 2000). http://www.dhds.org.uk/ Arnold Dolmetsch I: Dance on the English Stage, April 1999Chris Saunders, 'Symposium report', Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society Newsletter, (May 1999). http://www.dhds.org.uk/ Arnold Dolmetsch
Publications The symposium does not publish proceedings, but publications relating to the sessions have subsequently appeared.
Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, eds, With a Grace Not to be Captured; Representing the Georgian Theatrical Dancer, 1760-1830 (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2020). The book was joint winner of the 2021 Claire Brook Award for an outstanding volume on music iconography published in 2020. The award is made by the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation at CUNY.Sarah McCleave, 'With a Grace Not to Be Captured: Representing the Georgian Theatrical Dancer, 1760–1830', Music and Letters, 102/4 (2021), 823–26. https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/gcab093 Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, eds, The works of Monsieur Noverre translated from the French: Noverre, his circle, and the English Lettres sur la danse (Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press, 2014). Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, guest eds, Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography: Special Issue Dance and Image, 36/1-2 (2011). Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, guest eds, The Court Historian: Special Issue Dancing in Royal Palaces, 15/2 (2010). Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, eds, The Ballet de la Nuit: ROTHSCHILD B1/16/6 (Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press, 2009). Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, guest eds, Early Music: Dance in Restoration England, 26/4 (2007).
External links Official website
References