John Weaver (dancer)
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John Weaver (baptised 21 July 1673 – 24 September 1760) was an English dancer, dancing master and choreographer, and producer of a number of works on dancing. He is often regarded as the father of English ballet and of English
pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
.


Early life

Weaver was born in
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
where he was baptised on 21 July 1673 at the parish church of Holy Cross ie
Shrewsbury Abbey The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Shrewsbury (commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey) is an ancient foundation in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. The Abbey was founded in 1083 as a Benedictine monastery by the Norm ...
Church, son of John Weaver, a dance teacher. He was educated at the local Free School.Article by William George Dimock Fletcher. His father suggested he go to London and become a ballet master. Weaver seems to have left Shrewsbury in 1696 or 1697, although his first recorded performance in London was not until the summer of 1700. Weaver soon became a specialist in comic roles and created the
burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.
''Tavern Bilkers'' (1702). By the early 1700s, Weaver was part of a circle of dancing masters who were eager to promote the new French system of dance notation. Weaver translated Feuillet’s ''Choregraphie'' (Paris, 1700) into English as ''Orchesography'' (London, 1706), to make the treatise more widely accessible. He also notated a collection of six ball dances by Queen Anne’s dancing master Mr Isaac and in 1707 added ''The Union'', created to celebrate not only the Queen's birthday but also the Act of Union between England and Scotland. He must have met
Hester Santlow Hester Santlow (married name Hester Booth; c. 1690 – 1773) was a noted British dancer and actress, who has been called "England's first ballerina". She was influential in many spheres of theatrical life. Life Hester Santlow was born circa 1 ...
around this time, for she performed ''The Union'' before the Queen with the French dancer Desbarques. Weaver left London and returned to Shrewsbury in late 1707 or early 1708. In Shrewsbury, Weaver embarked on a book of his own. In ''An Essay towards an History of Dancing'', published in London in 1712, he admiringly recounts the achievements of the dancers – the mimes and pantomimes – of classical antiquity. He also appraises the stage dancing of his own time, setting down his ideas for its reform. Weaver wanted dancing to have the status of an art so that it could be a worthy rival to drama. He would realise this ambition only when he returned to London in 1717 and created ''The Loves of Mars and Venus''.


The Loves of Mars and Venus

''
The Loves of Mars and Venus The ''Loves of Mars and Venus'' by John Weaver was arguably the first modern ballet, the first dance work to tell a story through dance, gesture and music alone. Its first performance was at London's Drury Lane Theatre on Saturday 2 March 1717. ...
'' was first performed at
Drury Lane theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drur ...
on 2 March 1717. It dealt with themes from classical literature and required a significant number of gestures due to the story not being expressed in any spoken form. Because Weaver attempted to use plot and emotion in replacement of more sophisticated technical and speech methods, he is considered a major influence on subsequent choreographers, including
Jean-Georges Noverre Jean-Georges Noverre (29 April 1727 19 October 1810) was a French dancer and balletmaster, and is generally considered the creator of ''ballet d'action'', a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. His birthday is now observed as ...
and
Gasparo Angiolini Gasparo Angiolini (7 February 1731 – 6 February 1803), real name Domenico Maria Gasparo, son of Francesco Angiolini and Maria Maddalena Torzi, was an Italian dancer, choreographer and composer. He was born in Florence and died in Milan. He is ...
.


Other writings and productions

In addition to the other works of notation mentioned above, he published ''A Small Treatise of Time and Cadence in Dancing (1706), another translation of Feuillet. He also published "Anatomical and mechanical lectures upon dancing. Wherein rules and institutions for that art are laid down and demonstrated" (1721). In 1728 he revised sections of his ''Essay'' of 1712 for a more popular audience and published it as ''The History of the Mimes and Pantomimes''. He also made a number of contributions to ''The Spectator'', edited by his friend
Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele (bap. 12 March 1672 – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright, and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine ''The Spectator''. Early life Steele was born in Du ...
, who described him as "that more than Peripatetick Philosopher, Mr Weaver". His other theatrical productions included ''The Shipwreck; or Perseus and Andromeda'' (1717), a "Burlesque Entertainment in Dancing", ''Orpheus and Eurydice'' (1718), a "Dramatick Entertainment in Dancing" and ''The Judgment of Paris'' (1733), a "Dramatick Entertainment in Dancing and Singing".


Personal life

Weaver was twice married. By his first wife, Catherine, who died in 1712, he had two sons and one daughter. His second wife, Susannah, survived him to die in 1773 aged 73.''Dictionary of National Biography'', Volume 60, p.92


Later life

Subsequent productions were less successful and by 1721 his attention had shifted to the scientific treatment of his art, trying to establish dancing as one of the liberal arts. In 1720 he moved his family back to Shrewsbury, but returned to Drury Lane in 1728–29 as a producer and dancer. After this, apart from the production of ''The Judgment of Paris'' in 1733, he left the stage. Back in Shrewsbury he devoted himself to his boarding school, and is thought to have taught dancing to almost the end of his long life. He died on 24 September 1760, aged 87. He was buried in the south aisle of Old St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, on 28 September.


References


External links

*
The books of John Weaver
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weaver, John 1673 births 1760 deaths English male dancers English choreographers 17th-century dancers People from Shrewsbury People educated at Shrewsbury School 18th-century British dancers