About Francis Johnson, Dance Band of 1824 Tour

When the Marquis de Lafayette visited Philadelphia in 1824, composer Francis Johnson and his band were the featured act at the “grand ball” held in the Frenchman’s honor. The evening was the first known performance of Johnson’s New Cotillions, preceded by a Grand March, composed expressly for honoring the Marquis de Lafayette. This suite of dances is extraordinary for several reasons. Not only is it possible to pinpoint the exact day that and even the precise hour that they were first performed in Philadelphia, but Johnson’s musical score, which contains the works performed that evening in the Chestnut Street Theatre, also include precious annotations on these dances’ spatial paths and the dance steps that were danced. These instructions, unattributed, seem to be by the composer, Francis Johnson, which would make them the first published choreographies by a person of color. Moreover, the musical source, supplemented by early newspapers, clarifies how the preceding march unfolded, with Lafayette’s entrance, the formation of a “haie d’honneur,” etc.

In our unique performance, the dance will be realized using a 1817 Franco-American treatise, which details the dance technique used in cotillions in this period (Victor Guillou: Elements and Principles of the Art of Dancing, Philadelphia, 1817), which is based on a work by Jean-Henri Gourdoux-Daux (Principes et notions élémentaires sur l’art de la danse, Paris, 1811).

No one has, to our knowledge, pursued this level of examination of Johnson’s dance music and it is only possible for us thanks to Alan Jones’ specialized expertise in American-French dances from this period and the NYBDC dancers’ unique experience. NYBDC is one of the leading professional American dance company dedicated to performing historical works from before 1850.

The New York Baroque Dance Company’s Julia Bengtsson and Alan Jones were awarded a grant from the French Ministry of Culture through The Centre National de la Danse which is supporting their research for this project.

We need your help to support the tour! We could use administrative assistance with research for fundraising.

If you do not have time to volunteer but would like to donate to the project, here is the link:

https://nybaroquedance.org/donate/


See our website for more information: https://nybaroquedance.org/lafayette-and-the-dance/

Application Process

There is no application process.