Résumé :

On December 25, 1897, Laverie Vallée, better known by her stage name Charmion, made her debut in Koster and Bial’s Vaudeville Theater in New York City with a provocative undressing act on the trapeze and demonstrations of her upper-body muscularity. Though part of a wave of female aerialists at the turn of the twentieth century whose performances quite literally ‘flew’ in the face of Victorian values, Charmion was one of the first to take advantage of the developing photography, cinema and print industries to promote her act and was one of Thomas Edison’s first female silent movie subjects. The carnivalesque atmosphere generally associated with vaudeville performers made provocative acts like Charmion’s not only permissible, but also very popular. Her performances certainly embodied both desires and fears of a society that was forced to revisit Victorian ideals about women’s sexuality, physical prowess, and the female body more generally. [author summary]

Localisation : Traitement documentaire B

• Ex. 1 — Consultation sur place