ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about few scenes in Jean Georges Noverre's production of Dido and Aeneas, documented in his 1766 anthology of ballets Theorie et Pratique. As the ballet opens, Dido wrestles with her feelings of love for Aeneas. Even as she strives to release herself from this growing passion, Amour, appearing in disguised form, re-enflames her desire so that she can only think of pleasing her conqueror. Stage directions: Receive e-mail inviting me to participate in a conference with a contribution that brings feminist methodology to bear on an eighteenth-century case study. In the forest where the hunt will take place, Juno, Venus, Amour, and Hymen plot Dido's defeat. Renowned story ballet choreographers Noverre and Gasparo Angiolini both produced versions of Dido's story in 1766 and 1765 respectively. Back in Dido's palace in Carthage, Aeneas dreams that he must abandon Dido in order to fulfill his destiny.
