Weaver, John
Weaver, John.
ACHIEVEMENT(S): The father of English pantomime.
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None.
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: Baptised 21st July 1673, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.
DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH: 24th September 1760, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire,
England. Aged 87.
DISCIPLINE: Dancer and ballet master.
FIELD: Theatre.
LANGUAGE: English.
PARENTS: John and Anne Weaver.
SIBLINGS: None.
SPOUSE: Catherine (d. 1712), Susanna, married 1716.
CHILDREN: By first wife: John (b. 1702), Elizabeth (b. 1704), Katherine
(1705-06), Anne Elizabeth (1708-21), John (b. 1710), Richard (b. 1710) and
Catherine (b. 1712). By second wife: Priscilla (b. 1716); Dorothy (b. 1720),
Anne (b. 1721), Susannah (b. 1723) and William (b. 1728).
EDUCATION: Shrewsbury School.
MAJOR WORK: 'The Loves of Mars and Venus', 1717.
LIFE AND TIMES: The start of Weaver's dancing career came after he finished his education at Shrewsbury and, probably under Edward Dyer, trained to teach dance. By 1695, he was working at Shrewsbury as a dancing master.
In 1696, he married his first wife and the following year, they left for London where, by 1699, Weaver was established as a theatrical dancer. During that and the following year, he was a member of Christopher Rich's company in Drury Lane but, over the next few years he appeared at Lincoln's Inn Fields theater and the Music Hall in Villiers Street, as well.
He managed to persuade Christopher Rich to let him produce an experimental mimed comedy dance or burlesque. The result was 'The Tavern Bilkers', first performed in 1702. It was a dance drama, using Italian commedia dell'arte characters such as Harlequin and Scaramouche, but was more complex than Italian productions.
The dance was only performed on five nights in 1702 and 1703, but Weaver thought it was a really exciting new style of dance theater, which just needed perfecting in unity, style and taste. As far as he was concerned, the 'The Tavern Bilkers' was, effectively, the first English pantomime ballet.
Being in London gave him the opportunity to learn the art of theatrical performance and production from Christopher Rich, and from the leading dancing masters of the time, who showed him the new dance and teaching methods which, from 1692, had led to the improvement of English dancing and the foundation of the national style. The new system of dance notation, based on that developed by Beauchamp* and published in Paris as 'Choregraphie' in 1700, by R A Feuillet, kept Weaver busy for the next few years.
He devoted himself to making the new notation current in English dance and was commissioned to make a full translation. The result was 'Orchesography, or the Art of Dancing, by Characters and Demonstrative Figures', published in 1706, which clearly explained the meanings of the symbols using engravings.
In the same year he also published a short translation from another work by Feuillet, 'A Small Treatise of Time and Cadence in Dancing'. In 1707, he went back to Shrewsbury and settled his family there, making it his permanent base. Having been introduced to Steele*, Joseph Addison* and the Kit-Kat Club circle, he and Steele became close friends.
Eventually, Steele found Weaver a publisher for his: 'An Essay Towards an History of Dancing, In which the whole Art and its Various Excellencies are in some Measure Explain'd' in September 1712 and Steele then had the work promoted in 'The Spectator'.
From this time until 1721, Weaver moved to the Drury Lane Theater in London for the winter season and devoted himself to the most important period of theatrical activity in his life. In 1714, Steele had become manager at Drury Lane, but his success was being threatened by the popularity of the newly redecorated Lincoln's Inn Fields Theater, opened by Rich*, Christopher’s son.
Steele employed farcical dancers to attract custom and then promoted a series of serious English masques in 1715 and 1716. This was an attempt to win over the Italian opera fans from Lincoln's Inn Fields, which he openly attacked in 'The Spectator'. In retaliation, Lincoln's Inn Fields mocked the opposition with a series of parodies and Rich retained his audiences.
On 2nd March 1717, Weaver's first dance-drama and his most outstanding work: 'The Loves of Mars and Venus', was performed by the best theatrical dancers in London. Based on its success, he produced a series of dance-dramas over the next three years, including 'Orpheus and Eurydice' in 1718 and 'Cupid and Bacchus' in 1719.
The public then lost interest and went back to the more farcical productions, leaving Weaver to make appearances only as a dancer. Disillusioned, he retired from the London stage in 1721, for seven years. During this period, he worked at a dance academy in Chancery Lane, lecturing dance masters on how to apply anatomical and mechanical theory to the understanding of dance.
Weaver’s lectures were published in 1721: 'Anatomical and Mechanical Lectures upon Dancing,' probably his most important published work. By this time, he was at top of his lecturing profession with nowhere further to go, so he returned briefly to the London stage in 1728.
He performed in 'Acis and Galatea; or The Country Wedding' and was probably responsible for its production. In the same year, his next venture was the production of two comic dancing scenes for 'Perseus and Andromeda', working with the French Pierrot dancer, M Roger.
Despite their success, he couldn't compete with the popularity of the first ballad opera, Gay*'s 'The Beggar's Opera,' staged in 1728 at Lincoln's Inn Fields. John Rich was again pulling in the public.
In 1733, Weaver produced his last dance-drama at Drury Lane: a serious adaptation of William Congreve's* masque, 'The Judgement of Paris'. It was very successful and probably the most graceful and dignified dramatic dance of his career. Ending on a high note, he retired the following year to Shrewsbury, to concentrate on his boarding school there.
ASSESSMENT: An eminent dancing master who through his work and teaching, improved the status of dance in the second half of the 18th century.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: His work related to that of Arnold*
ONELINER: John Weaver, first English choreographer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Ralph, Richard, The Life and Works of John Weaver,London, Dance Books Ltd., 1985.