Female Aerialists in the 1920s and Early 1930s

Through detailed and cleverly analysed case studies, Kate Holmes' book highlights female solo aerialists of the 1920s and early 1930s and their status as internationally popular performers in the largest live mass entertainment of the period in the UK and USA.

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.

Autorentext

Kate Holmes is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Exeter. Her aerial research explores contemporary and historical audience experience from a practitioner-perspective, using approaches that include examining space, gender, and exercise history. Her research has appeared in journals, including New Theatre Quarterly and Early Popular Visual Culture, *and in edited collections.*

Klappentext

Through detailed and cleverly analysed case studies, Kate Holmes' book highlights female solo aerialists of the 1920s and early 1930s and their status as internationally popular performers in the largest live mass entertainment of the period in the UK and USA.

Inhalt

Introduction: Producing allure and popularity 1. Democratising experience: Diverse transformative performance spaces 2. To glamour: A kinaesthetic fantasy of weightlessness 3. Skilful vulnerability: Showmanship and the performance of skill and risk 4. Performing and negotiating muscular femininity: Aerial celebrity and the modern girl 5. Absorbing activity into femininity: Moving bodies, citizenship, and beauty Conclusion: Updating aerial celebrity and re-evaluating practice