This thesis offers three case studies of theatrical and recreational dance in early twentieth-century Paris: operatic, balletic and music-hall variations on Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils; the reception of the cake walk as concert music, circus entertainment and on film; and the conception and realisation of <i>La Fête chez Thérèse, </i>a ballet staged at the Opéra during the years of the Ballets Russes. My critique, which draws on theories of post-colonialism, feminism and subjectivity (to name a few), offers a ‘thick description’ of these dance spectacles, tracing a peculiar line through the cultural and aesthetic determinants of early twentieth-century art and entertainment whilst exploring an encounter between French modernism, elite and popular culture. More important, though, is the fact that my thesis considers the role or function of music in dance performance. Such an approach inevitably invokes audio-visual theory, as well as recent musicological concerns with the moving body and its complex if ephemeral signification:  how music helps dance to move beyond gymnastics and begin to ‘speak’ is becoming well-covered terrain. In my case studies the question extends in new and unfamiliar directions. As well as considering the relation between music, narrative and balletic ‘voice’ (an interpretative reading), I engage in a more acutely historical study, exploring the reception of dance in the Parisian press: what this might reveal about ways of watching, listening, thinking and writing about dance and its accompanying music. The different works and genres offered up for consideration by my case studies, as well as the variety of aesthetic levels that they mark out, enable me to expose new perspectives on the contemporary dance scene and its cultural motivations.

This PhD thesis is an ethnographic investigation into the formation, structure and expression of femininities within burlesque, BDSM and fetish performances in a variety of subcuitural clubbing sites.

This study examines the relationship between an English music hall performer, Vesta Tilley, and her largely female working-class audience through the lens of the Barthesian concept of the Neutral. The primary sources investigated include published autobiographies, but also an important collection of scrapbooks held by the Worcester Archives and Archaeology Service, containing extensive newspaper clippings as well as letters written by fans. An examination of these texts was undertaken alongside genealogical research to add greater depth to the lives of the historical actors investigated here. This analysis shows that Vesta Tilley’s gender performance as a male impersonator, and the success she had in this role, was due to her constant self-positioning and re-positioning as Neutral. This was largely accomplished by appropriating a hybrid gender identity, one which was both male and female. The texts also demonstrate that the Neutral was equally employed by her working-class female audience members to embrace and reproduce the pleasure that the music hall performance brought them. They prioritised the pleasure of the evening entertainment, and ensured the reproduction of these values in their own lives, and also across generations. Far from theoretical, the words written by these women – performer and audience – demonstrate the radicality of the Neutral, and also how radical they themselves were in a time usually understood to restrict the autonomous pleasure of women. Consequently, while Barthes concluded that the Neutral was merely a fantasy, the investigations here demonstrate that it was instead a strategy, a way for those in marginal positions to ‘get away with’ personal autonomy.

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This thesis addresses pre-existing assumptions surrounding the material, popularity and success of the Victorian music-hall serio-comedienne. The field of music-hall and performance studies is constantly developing new techniques through which to view and assess archived materials. However, the immediacy of theatre and performance makes this a complex and ever-evolving methodology, and one that is based on subjective sources. This study seeks: to create a new, multidisciplinary archival methodology through which to reignite, reimagine. and reclaim the careers of two popular, yet under researched serio-comediennes: Jenny Hill (1849-1896) and Bessie Bellwood (1856-1896). At the centre of this methodology are my own recordings of Hill's: and Bellwood's published sheet music through which I aim to bring. the text from the page back to the stage. These recordings are informed by the analysis of sheet music, reviews, interviews and music-hall venues, all of which are contextualised within a discussion of social history. Chapter one introduces Hill and Bellwood and traces the ways, in which they engaged with the press, and. advertising in order to construct an appealing public image. Chapter two then traces the development of their repertoires, pinpointing what themes were particularly characteristic of their styles and the ways these themes balanced with their off-stage images. Chapters three and four then provide in-depth analysts and recordings of six pieces of sheet music in order to further probe what it was that made Hill and Bellwood appealing to their audiences, and assess to what extent sheet music can be trusted as. a source through, which to represent a performer's repertoire., Through this investigation, I will examine how using this multidisciplinary approach can provide an original lens through which to rediscover both the material and appeal of popular performers.

Despite concerns regarding working conditions in Scottish lap-dancing venues being raised in the 2006 report published by the then Scottish Executive’s Adult Entertainment Working Group, women’s experiences of working inside these venues remains under-researched. This thesis provides an up-to-date snapshot of working conditions in the Scottish lap-dancing industry. The study utilised in-depth, semi-structured interviews with dancers which benefitted from the researcher’s involvement in the industry. The inclusion of women’s voices led to the conclusion that wider cultural and economic changes are impacting negatively upon working experiences in venues by adversely altering the dynamics of supply and demand. This means power is felt to be partially shifting from workers to owners, and to a lesser extent, customers. Participants suggest that venues have changed from being enjoyable working environments where money could be made relatively easily to ones where the work embodies the characteristics of precarious labour where competition is rife and projected income is far less certain. A feminist and Foucoudian analysis assists in understanding and explaining these changes. The thesis suggests that simply improving working conditions for women may prove ineffective in the facilitation of a more satisfactory workplace, due to the overriding desire for profit held by both dancers and owners in an industry which has become less financially lucrative. Ultimately, the thesis reveals and explains how shifts outside the lap-dancing venues have affected dancers negatively in different ways, affecting relationships inside the venue, and the actual experience of carrying out the labour. This thesis argues that these shifts have been assisted by the provision of State policy that fails to recognise lap-dancing as a form of labour and is not concerned with dancers safety at work.