“The art of dancing words”. Gasparo Angiolini and the Dissertation on pantomime ballets of the ancients

Abstract

In 1765 Gasparo Angiolini presented his tragic pantomime ballet Semiramide, accompanying it with an explanatory programme. The Dissertation sur les Ballets Pantomimes des Anciens gives voice to Angiolini’s first ideas on pantomime ballet. This is the reason why it has to be considered, like other primary sources and documents, an important contribution for the study of the birth and the growth of the ballet d’action. The French text is translated into Italian and it is preceded by some reflections on Angiolini and the reform of pantomime ballet.