Muzzled Dancers: Performers in 1841

As a city, New Orleans is infamous for its highly concentrated population of jazz music, voodoo,  bounce culture, and creole cuisine . One would think that a city so full of free spirits, both literally and figuratively, would have a history of building people up and cultivating independence from a young age. However, a closer look at the history of New Orleans, in particular, its art forms, highlights how its culture continually reinforces gender stereotypes on young women from a young age. 

In 1841, dance was a large part of New Orleanians’s social lives. Dance was not just used as an educational tool, but also as a way for individuals to solidify their social standings. Young girls were initially exposed to dance through academies, and after much preparation and practicing, their etiquette and social worth would be tested in the Quadroon Balls. Though dance is traditionally known to be an outlet of creative expression for one’s body, dance in Antebellum New Orleans represented the dehumanization of women due to male control. 

Nonverbal expressions should be liberating for all individuals, especially kids who may not know how to conceptualize their thoughts entirely. Performing arts have been proven to give children the tools they need to explore their mind, emotions, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Of all of the nonverbal ways of communication, dancing in specific is very liberating for individuals. Dancing allows one to express their feelings without words but with body movements. Dancing helps boost one’s confidence, develop healthy self esteem, gain physical strength and flexibility, and build autonomy. Creative expression lends itself as a new perspective of understanding oneself through movement, which doubles as a source of entertainment for others. With this perspective, children allow themselves to change the prescription they view the world with. In addition, with nonverbal expressions, children can express themselves without worrying if they are right or wrong. But in 1841 New Orleans, there certainly was a right and wrong way to dance. 

For girls in 1841, dancing was not for one’s own expression, but to practice for when she is old enough to attend a ball, and hopefully catch the eye of a man. As a girl during this time, “we all knew how to dance. Didn’t we belong to Mme. Arraline Brooks’ dancing school?” Mme Arraline Brooks was a well known teacher at the corner of Camp and Julia Street in the heart of New Orleans. Dance was a quintessential activity for girls, and still remains a way women are commodified in society. 

Whether it be the clothing they wear or the after school activities kids in 1841 partook in, they were taught implicitly and explicitly to color within the lines. As Ripley, author of Social Life in Old New Orleans, states “‘Children should be seen and not heard…Children were neither seen nor heard in the days of which I write, the days of 1840. They led a simple life, going and coming in their own unobtrusive way, making no stir in fashionable circles, with laces and flounces and feathered hats”. Not only were children during this time period silenced through the quieting of any variant expression, but their independence and desires to speak via dance were muzzled as a result.   

In terms of styles of dance, ballet was popular in terms of both performance and entertainment preference in 1841. The first official ballet performance apart from operas was in 1799, and it quickly became a fan favorite amongst New Orleanians. Ballet was enjoyable for audiences of all kinds, since there is no requirement of intelligence needed to understand the plotlines. Instead of having a storyline, ballerinas use their body and the music to express a thought or emotion. Of course, men in the audience were also happily entertained at the sight of women leaping about in tiny frivolous costumes. Although ballet was, and still is, a widely popular style of dance, it serves as a symbol of the muzzling of one’s expression. Ballet does not encourage the authentic movement of the body, rather it requires the contortion into unnatural forms. 

Not only was dance a common social activity for young girls, dance remains a popular social tradition for adults in New Orleans. Each year, New Orlenians have a social calendar filled with Balls and Catillions. During the 18th and 19th century, Quadroon Balls and Octoroon Balls were the balls of the season. The season of balls originated from the arrival of Europeans into New Orleans from the end of September to early October. During this time,  operas, dances, parties, and get togethers were abundant as the sweltering heat cooled. These balls functioned around arranging plaçages and fixing women up with men. During balls, women were expected to demonstrate genteelness through waiting for male partners to ask them to dance.  They were to act docile and passive in this very ritual. Dance is supposed to be a way for an individual to express themselves nonverbally. Considering the constraints placed on ballet dancers in 1840’s-era New Orleans, it appears to me that dance was just another way women were taught to tend to the desires of men. 

Quadroon Balls were social gatherings where women would dress to impress and would compose themselves with nothing but modesty and elegance. Quadroon ball was neither filled with free dancing women, but rigid pre-rehearsed pairs performing the dances. These balls served as another way that women were oppressed within society. Quadroon Balls placed strict standards on young women, limiting their ability to non-verbally express themselves. Though dancing is supposed to be freeing, these Balls inherently became a tool to further oppress young women within Antebellum New Orleans’ society. 

As shown in an excerpt from February 14th’s issue of The Daily Picayune, women during 1841 danced in efforts of proving their physical appearance and their worthiness. Film theorist Laura Mulvey discussed the theory of men acting as spectators at dances who objectify womens’ bodies. On the dance floor, “women (and their bodies)” were scrutinized by audiences all around them”. It is apparent that men are at the center when it comes to priorities of balls. On the other hand, women are the root of everything that can go wrong at a ball. A mother is to blame for setting her son up with a girl who is not beautiful enough, or is not a prized dancer.

In addition to dance being another way to instill women’s subordination to men, dance reinforced the generational social hierarchy. Starting in the mid nineteenth century, krewes were created from patriarchal traditions; “The manner in which krewe members used their bodies to proclaim their royalty, to promenade, or to dance, all signified individual social roles… fashionable guests used their bodies in ballroom dancing to uphold or refute acceptable standards of male and female behavior.” During this time, one’s ability to dance represented their social status. Having had dance training indicated one’s wealth which in turn displayed their social prominence. Wealthy New Orleanians’  “… accomplished, virtuosic dancing directly reflected [their] situation in life as well as their genteel character and adherence to the established social rules that governed the elite social body.” Shedding this light on 1840’s-era dancing, and what it stood for, emphasizes how it fails to align with what dancing should do for an individual. Dance, as an expressionist art form, should help individuals feel liberated from the rigidity of society.

It is crucial to recognize the oppressive history of dance within New Orleans’s culture. By understanding how dance in the Antebellum era restricted young women’s self-expression and social role, we can transcend these barriers still evident in our local culture and greater society. Today, dance in New Orleans has altered significantly and played a key cultural role for various marginalized groups. Although Bounce culture is more popular today than traditional ballet performances, the oppression of women is still evident in how we observe Bounce performances. Nowadays, men’s eyes are drawn to young women twerking, further commodifying young female dancers in contemporary New Orleans’s culture. Though Quadroon Balls may no longer play a significant social role, we must understand how dance continues to promote female servitude today.