Mardi Gras Carnival balls are traditional New Orleans events when krewe organizations present their seasonal mock monarchs. Traditionally, these ballroom spectacles included tableaux vivants performances, the grand march and promenade of the season's royal court, special dances with masked krewemen, and general ballroom dancing. These events reinforced generational ties through the display of social power in a place where women were crystallized into perfect images of Southern beauty. Since the mid nineteenth century, old-line krewes (the oldest, most elite Carnival organizations) have cultivated patriarchal traditions in their ball presentations and have acted as historical vehicles of commentary on personal and social identity. The manner in which krewe members used their bodies to proclaim their royalty, to promenade, or to dance, all signified individual social roles and represented the evolving mores of their connected group. Likewise, masked courtiers and fashionable guests used their bodies in ballroom dancing to uphold or refute acceptable standards of male and female behavior. From 1870 to 1920, old-line krewes dominated the private terrain of New Orleans Mardi Gras. Through their steadfast commitment to performing white elitism, traditional krewes set the stage for the gender battles of the twentieth century, when female, black, and gay bodies, within newly formed krewes, used dance in their own carnival balls to define modern and diverse sexual, personal, and communal identities. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: March 25, 2008. / Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Tableaux Vivants, Ballroom Dancing, Old-Line Krewes, Gender in Performance / Includes bibliographical references. / Suzanne Sinke, Professor Directing Dissertation; John O. Perpener, III, Outside Committee Member; Sally Hadden, Committee Member; V.J. Conner, Committee Member; Tricia Young, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_168990 |
| Contributors | Atkins, Jennifer (authoraut), Sinke, Suzanne (professor directing dissertation), Perpener, John O. (outside committee member), Hadden, Sally (committee member), Conner, V.J. (committee member), Young, Tricia (committee member), Department of History (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
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