Victorian Era Ballet Performers and Gender Roles Exhibition

This exhibition examines nineteenth-century English ballerinas and the coinciding gendered themes of the era. My thesis is in the form of a traveling museum exhibition proposal on the professional lives of ballerinas during the Victorian Era in England. A "traveling" exhibition generally includes pieces from various collections. A traveling exhibition would allow a larger audience to enjoy and learn from the collection because it would be more mobile and accessible. This exhibit offers people a new way of looking at and experiencing Victorian ballet. Ballet is often associated with fashion, beauty, and effortlessness. While there are truths to these observations, ballet has a gritty side, especially when ballet first became popular in Great Britain. Viewers may be surprised by the poor working conditions of the corps de ballet and even the mistreatment of star ballerinas. Viewers should come away with their own observations about gender roles in Victorian England, the idea of ballerinas as celebrities, and ballet as an art form.