Throwback
Thursday and Kate Vaughan
Skirt
dancing is “A form of ballet-dancing in
which the effect is produced by graceful movements of the skirts, which are
sufficiently long and full to be waved in the hands of the dancer.”
Skirt
dancing is believed to have originated with Kate Vaughan, whose real name was Catherine Alice Candelin. She was born in
1852 in London. In 1873 she appeared with her sister Susie in Orpheus in the Underworld. They were
billed as the Vaughan Sisters and they performed a skirt dance which was a more family-friendly version of the can-can.
From 1876 to 1884, Vaughan performed in London, and at the peak of her career
was paid the large sum of £72 a week (about $95). By 1885 she had retired from
dancing, but continued to perform as a comedy actress. By this time the skirt
dance had become so popular that every aspiring dancer had it in their
repertoire.
W. J.
Lawrence, her biographer, called Vaughan “the greatest dancer of her time”.
She died in
1903 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she had moved for
health reasons.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets
Dance History Factoid #187:
“Kate Vaughan is said
to have originated skirt dancing.”
Link of the Day:
Quote of the Day:
“I was the first to dance in skirts
reaching the ankles; I never went in for serpentine dances, trailing garments,
or movements of the arms and the whole body – mine was genuine dancing and
nothing else. I invented the steps myself, and my full-length lace skirts were
a novelty in those days, when the ballet was the only style in vogue.”
-
Kate
Vaughan
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