Signora Violante (1682–1741) was a rope-dancer, acrobat, commedia dell'arte actor and theatre company manager.

Biography

Signora Violante was Italian or French, and was active as a performer from 1720. She was married to an Italian, Senor Violante, a rope-slider. Neither her maiden or married name are known for certain, and she and her husband are also sometimes named as Larini in contemporary newspaper accounts. She is also known as Madam Violante and Mrs Violante in 18th century sources. Her children were among the performers in her troupe. Her daughter Rosina Violante, a dancer, later married dancer George Richard Estcourt Luppino, son of dancers George Charles Luppino and Charlotte Mary Estcourt, and forebear of the

Lupino family The Lupino family () is a British theatre family which traces its roots to an Italian émigré of the early 17th century. The "Lupino" name is derived from two unrelated families: *the original Luppino or Lupino family, seventeenth century emigre ...

of performers and designers.

Career

Violante's first appearances in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, in the spring of 1720, were working with De Grimbergue's French company at the King's Theatre and

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

theatres. Her performances in these shows included rope dancing with flags, sometimes advertised in bills as "The Flourishing of the Colours"; her rope-dancing inspired a poem published in ''Oxoniensis'' on 6 June 1720''.'' Another reported act of Violante's was, while on the slack rope, to dance a

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that accomp ...

, with a child hanging from each ankle. In 1727 Violante is said to have danced on the tight rope with swords tied to her legs, a child balanced on her shoulders, and two children on her ankles. Violante returned to London in 1726 to the Haymarket Theatre, where she stayed for a season of 70 nights, performing acrobatics, dancing and pantomime, between 2 November 1726 and 28 April 1727. She was in

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in 1727, and returned to London's Haymarket Theatre with a new company to perform regularly from 23 October to 6 May 1728, including a pantomime ''The Rivals'' in which she featured in the role of Colombina. The company performed ''The Rivals'' in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

in the summer of 1728, where her husband Senor Violante slid on a rope across the River Servern, from St Vincent's Rocks in Clifton, a distance of 550 yards in thirty seconds, before a crowd of spectators. Violante had a large impact on the Dublin theatre scene of the early 18th century. She worked in Dublin for three theatre seasons, during which time, in 1730, Violante and her principal dancer Lalauze established the Dame Street Booth, a rival to the Theatre Royal, Smock Alley in Dublin. She then travelled to

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where she lived in Carruber's Close. In Edinburgh, magistrates refused her company permission to perform in their jurisdiction. after this, her company performed throughout Britain, and it is possible they also performed in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. One show was a pirated version of

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

, the cast of which included

Peg Woffington Margaret Woffington (18 October 1720 – 28 March 1760), known professionally as Peg Woffington, was an Irish actress and socialite of the Georgian era. Peg and Peggy were a common pet name for those called Margaret until the late 20th centu ...

, whom Violante 'discovered' as a child, carrying water to her mother's wash-house, and subsequently coached. In 1735 Signora Violante settled in Edinburgh, where she rented the lower floor of the hall of the Incorporation of Mary's Chapel from 1738 and continued to perform as a rope-dancer, and ran a dance school. Signora Violante died in 1741.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Violante, Signora 1741 deaths Acrobats 1682 births 18th-century actresses 18th-century theatre Women theatre managers and producers Commedia dell'arte 18th-century dancers 18th-century circus performers