ABSTRACT
This Chapter examines the work of Symons A. J. and other writers from the perspective of an ordinary reader. The terminology that Symons used to describe the dancers, 'maenads of decadence', indicates both the style and the sentiment of his writing on the music hall. In fiction, poetry and autobiography the stereotypical images of the dancers were either endorsed or perpetuated or their lack of authenticity was revealed. Although some of the sources refer to the general term 'dancers', the interest of the majority of writers is directed at the ballet girls. The connection between the dancers in that venue and back-stage sexual activity is indisputable. It is the dancers of the music hall ballet who serve as the vehicle for the writer's pornographic imagination. The antithetical images of ballerina and ballet girl revealed even more tellingly in an examination of the morality of the ballets and the personal morality of the performers.
