Female solo aerialists of the 1920s and early 1930s were internationally popular performers in the largest live performance mass entertainment of the period in the UK and USA. Yet these aerialists and this period in circus history have been largely forgotten despite the iconic image of ‘the’ female aerialist still flaring in the popular imagination.

Kate Holmes uses insights gained as a practitioner to reconstruct in detail the British and American performances and public personae of key stars such as Lillian Leitzel, Luisita Leers, and the Flying Codonas, revealing what is performed and implicit in today’s practice. Using a wealth of original sources, this book considers the forgotten stars whose legacy of the cultural image of the female aerialist echoes. Locating performers within wider cultural histories of sport, glamour, and gender, this book asks important questions about their stardom, including: Why were female aerialists so alluring when their muscularity challenged conservative ideals of femininity and how did they participate in change? What was it about their movements and the spaces they performed in that activated such strong audience responses?

This book is vital reading for students and practitioners of aerial performance, circus, gender, popular performance, and performance studies.

Female solo aerialists of the 1920s and early 1930s were internationally popular performers in the largest live performance mass entertainment of the period in the UK and USA. Yet these aerialists and this period in circus history have been largely forgotten despite the iconic image of ‘the’ female aerialist still flaring in the popular imagination.

Kate Holmes uses insights gained as a practitioner to reconstruct in detail the British and American performances and public personae of key stars such as Lillian Leitzel, Luisita Leers, and the Flying Codonas, revealing what is performed and implicit in today’s practice. Using a wealth of original sources, this book considers the forgotten stars whose legacy of the cultural image of the female aerialist echoes. Locating performers within wider cultural histories of sport, glamour, and gender, this book asks important questions about their stardom, including: Why were female aerialists so alluring when their muscularity challenged conservative ideals of femininity and how did they participate in change? What was it about their movements and the spaces they performed in that activated such strong audience responses?

This book is vital reading for students and practitioners of aerial performance, circus, gender, popular performance, and performance studies.

This collection of primary sources brings together a series of documents derived from archives, journals, newspapers, out-of-print books, memoirs, letters, and other written materials pertaining to the circus during the long nineteenth century (1789-1919). Historians concur that the ‘modern’ circus emerged in London in the late-eighteenth century, following the entrepreneurial initiatives of Philip Astley (1742-1814). It soon spread to Scotland, Ireland, France, Russia, Scandinavia, and other regions of Europe. Introduced to the United States by and English equestrian, John Bill Ricketts, in 1793, the modern circus transformed into a movable tent show by 1825. Following the Civil War and the development of railroad transport, the uniquely American circus transformed again into an ‘industrialized juggernaut’ capable of entertaining a large and diverse population from coast to coast. Transmitted across the globe through the British colonial project, the circus flourished in the colonies of Australasia, South Africa, South- and Southeast Asia, and was nourished by traditional performance forms of China, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia. The modern circus evolved through interaction with different geographies, socio-political contexts, new technologies, cultural heritage, and absorption of vernacular performance forms. Accompanied by extensive editorial commentary, and edited by an international team of scholars, this collection will be of great interest to students and researchers of circus studies, theatre and performance studies and cultural history.

Female solo aerialists of the 1920s and early 1930s were internationally popular performers in the largest live performance mass entertainment of the period in the UK and USA. Yet these aerialists and this period in circus history have been largely forgotten despite the iconic image of ‘the’ female aerialist still flaring in the popular imagination.

Kate Holmes uses insights gained as a practitioner to reconstruct in detail the British and American performances and public personae of key stars such as Lillian Leitzel, Luisita Leers, and the Flying Codonas, revealing what is performed and implicit in today’s practice. Using a wealth of original sources, this book considers the forgotten stars whose legacy of the cultural image of the female aerialist echoes. Locating performers within wider cultural histories of sport, glamour, and gender, this book asks important questions about their stardom, including: Why were female aerialists so alluring when their muscularity challenged conservative ideals of femininity and how did they participate in change? What was it about their movements and the spaces they performed in that activated such strong audience responses?

This book is vital reading for students and practitioners of aerial performance, circus, gender, popular performance, and performance studies.

Female solo aerialists of the 1920s and early 1930s were internationally popular performers in the largest live performance mass entertainment of the period in the UK and USA. Yet these aerialists and this period in circus history have been largely forgotten despite the iconic image of ‘the’ female aerialist still flaring in the popular imagination.

Kate Holmes uses insights gained as a practitioner to reconstruct in detail the British and American performances and public personae of key stars such as Lillian Leitzel, Luisita Leers, and the Flying Codonas, revealing what is performed and implicit in today’s practice. Using a wealth of original sources, this book considers the forgotten stars whose legacy of the cultural image of the female aerialist echoes. Locating performers within wider cultural histories of sport, glamour, and gender, this book asks important questions about their stardom, including: Why were female aerialists so alluring when their muscularity challenged conservative ideals of femininity and how did they participate in change? What was it about their movements and the spaces they performed in that activated such strong audience responses?

This book is vital reading for students and practitioners of aerial performance, circus, gender, popular performance, and performance studies.

This collection of primary sources brings together a series of documents derived from archives, journals, newspapers, out-of-print books, memoirs, letters, and other written materials pertaining to the circus during the long nineteenth century (1789-1919). Historians concur that the ‘modern’ circus emerged in London in the late-eighteenth century, following the entrepreneurial initiatives of Philip Astley (1742-1814). It soon spread to Scotland, Ireland, France, Russia, Scandinavia, and other regions of Europe. Introduced to the United States by and English equestrian, John Bill Ricketts, in 1793, the modern circus transformed into a movable tent show by 1825. Following the Civil War and the development of railroad transport, the uniquely American circus transformed again into an ‘industrialized juggernaut’ capable of entertaining a large and diverse population from coast to coast. Transmitted across the globe through the British colonial project, the circus flourished in the colonies of Australasia, South Africa, South- and Southeast Asia, and was nourished by traditional performance forms of China, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia. The modern circus evolved through interaction with different geographies, socio-political contexts, new technologies, cultural heritage, and absorption of vernacular performance forms. Accompanied by extensive editorial commentary, and edited by an international team of scholars, this collection will be of great interest to students and researchers of circus studies, theatre and performance studies and cultural history.