Influenza e immaginario della danza nell'educazione di genere e nella narrativa dal XVII al XIX secolo

This research project proposes to analyse the effects that dance has had on women’s lives and development as well as on the study of the fantasy of dance within fiction between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.The project is divided into three parts.The first of the three chapters,Dance in women’s lives and education, takes into consideration the role of dance as a privileged path in the physical, psychological and educational training of women, as well as a means of acquiring proper etiquette, thus preparing women for marriage.A different discourse concentrates on the debutante ball, an event of strong social, symbolic and anthropological significance which additionally acted as a rite of passage. The focus of the research then shifts on to the presence of dance in the first fifty years of the twentieth century, with regards to fantasy and dance practice during Fascism.The second chapter,Identity and gender roles in dance, tackles issues such as gender differences between male dance and female dance. Ultimately, the research centres on the study of the relationship between dance and pain.The third and final chapter is titledThe fantasy of Dance in nineteenth century Fiction. In this part of the thesis, several dance periodicals which were printed in Italy between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century have been reviewed, which revealed significant supporting material on European horseback dancing between the two centuries.