Oxford Dance Symposium


The first Oxford Dance Symposium at New College, Oxford took place on 21 April 1999 with Dance on the English Stage, and has become an annual, international event which attracts scholars and practitioners from many parts of the world. Each symposium is designed to explore different aspects of dance, with particular reference to its musical, theatrical, literary and social context in Britain and Europe during the long 18th century; as such has embraced subjects ranging from the 17th-century Stuart Masque and French ballet de cour to early 19th-century opera and ballet. There is a particular emphasis on new research or new appraisals of existing sources. Although the symposium issues no Proceedings, some of the papers from several symposia have been published as books of essays or as individual papers in academic journals. The symposium is organised each year by Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp.

Symposia

XXVII: Staging Dance, April 2026 XXVII: Dancing Objects, April 2025 XXVI: Dance and Institutions, April 2024 XXV: Dance, Costume and Scenography, April 2023XXIV: Dancing in Town and Country, April 2022XXIII: Watching Dance, Dancers, and Audiences, April 2021 XXII: COVID-19XXI: Reading Dance, April 2019XX: Dance and Drama, April 2018XIX: Dance and the City, April 2017XVIII: Teaching Dance, April 2016XVII: Dancing for Anniversaries and Occasions: Chamber, Court, Theatre & Assembly, April 2015XVI: The dancer in celebrity culture in the long 18th-century: reputations, images, portraits, April 2014XV: Living, dancing, travelling, dying: dancers’ lives in the long 18th century, April 2013XIV: Dancing in the theatre of Europe in the long 18th century, April 2012XIII: Dance and the novel, May 2011XII: Jean-Georges Noverre and his circle, April 2010XI: Dance and Image, May 2009X: Dancing in Royal Palaces, May 2008IX: French and English Pantomime, May 2007VIII: Dancers Abroad, May 2006VII: 'Counting sheep'; Dance and the Pastoral, April 2005VI: Royal Ballet de la Nuit, April 2004 see Ballet Royal de la Nuit.V: Roi Soleil and Soleil Dieu, March 2003IV: Dancing Exploded, October, 2002III: Gods, Men and Monsters, April 2001II: 'So Publick an Approbation': attitudes to dance in 18th-Century England, April 2000I: Dance on the English Stage, April 1999

Publications

The symposium does not publish proceedings, but publications relating to the sessions have subsequently appeared.
  • Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, eds, With a Grace Not to be Captured; Representing the Georgian Theatrical Dancer, 1760-1830. The book was joint winner of the 2021 Claire Brook Award for an outstanding volume on music iconography published in 2020. The award is made by the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation at CUNY.
  • Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, eds, The works of Monsieur Noverre translated from the French: Noverre, his circle, and the English Lettres sur la danse.
  • Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, guest eds, Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography: Special Issue Dance and Image, 36/1-2.
  • Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, guest eds, The Court Historian: Special Issue Dancing in Royal Palaces, 15/2.
  • Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, eds, The Ballet de la Nuit: ROTHSCHILD B1/16/6.
  • Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp, guest eds, Early Music: Dance in Restoration England, 26/4.