ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the gap in dance and social history by identifying the importance of dance, and ballet as a cultural activity in which the body of the dancer and the symbolic constructs of the dance both produce the concerns of the age. It sets the context of the British music hall by outlining its history and comparing the nature of its entertainment with that of its European and American counterparts. The book focuses on the ballets at the Alhambra and the Empire for their ballet productions and for the moral controversies which arose from activity in their auditoria and on stage. It concludes with the claim that the recorded history of British ballet is flawed; that it is one based on value, on artistic standards, rather than on the prevalence and popularity of the activity itself.
