Virginia Woolf: dance, rhythm, movement

Moving beyond the current critical focus on ballet, this thesis draws on Virginia Woolf’s biographies, diaries, essays, juvenilia, letters, and novels, alongside the socio-cultural history of dance and feminist theories of the body and gendered movement, to explore how Woolf’s use of physical expression, dance, and rhythmic variation might upend orthodox masculinity, patriarchal oppression, and social class hierarchies. <br><br>Chapter one looks at how Woolf employs circle- or couple-dances in The Voyage Out (1915) to explore embodiment, gender fluidity, and social control.

Formally staid ballroom dance, regarded as a manifestation of patriarchy, is replaced with vibrant Bacchanalian movements that mirror modern dance’s focus on spontaneous, voluntary motion. Chapter two argues that Orlando’s ballet-inflected steps test the limits of conservative masculinity, embracing alternative forms. It goes on to consider the figure of the female Olympic ice-dancer as a possible source of inspiration for Princess Sasha Romanovich, whose fluid movement across the ice resists conformity.