Oxford Dance Symposium

The first Oxford Dance Symposium at New College, Oxford took place on 21 April 1999 with Dance on the English Stage, and has become an annual, international event which attracts scholars and practitioners from many parts of the world. Each symposium is designed to explore different aspects of dance, with particular reference to its musical, theatrical, literary and social context in Britain and Europe during the long 18th century; and as such has embraced subjects ranging from the 17th-century Stuart Masque and French ballet de cour to early 19th-century opera and ballet. There is a particular emphasis on new research or new appraisals of existing sources, and although the symposium issues no Proceedings, some of the papers from several symposia have been published as books of essays or as individual papers in academic journals. The symposium is organised each year by Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp.