Itinerant challenges and newspaper support: The Johannesénske Balletselskab's Norwegian tour 1878-79

Abstract

From March 1878 to October 1879, the
Johannesénske Balletselskab toured
in Norway and thereby gave people
in 16 smaller and peripheral towns
the opportunity to see ballet for the
first time. The main aim of this article
is to explore the challenges related to
performance venues and lack of audiences
that the Johannesénske faced on their
1878-79 tour. The article is mainly
based on an investigation of newspaper
material from those years documented
on microfilm and storied in libraries.
The Johannesénske Balletselskab was
used to travelling: in various shapes and
forms, this ensemble had been on the
road for almost thirty years. During their
travelling, Norwegian newspapers were
highly supportive of their performances
and the article discusses how life on
the road was made easier through the
support of the press. Life on the road
could be challenging in several ways
and itinerant life has for centuries
required adaptability and the ability to
deal with changes and obstacles. Some
were dramatic, whereas others more
mundane in nature. The challenges of
itinerant dance ensembles have been
little explored in Nordic and European
dance scholarship. In fact, itinerant
dancers- and dance ensembles have been
a marginalized issue and the aim of this
article is make amends for this through
investigating a few of the hardships that
the Johannesénske encountered.