Stefano Fogelberg Rota, « The Queen danced alone » : Court ballet in Sweden during the reign of Queen Christina (1638-1654)

The Queen Danced Alone: Court Ballet in Sweden during the Reign of Queen Christina (1638-1654) is the first monograph devoted to court ballet during Christina’s reign that offers an in-depth analysis of all the extant libretti of the performances. The Queen’s highly active patronage of this theatre form, and its development in Sweden in the framework of a cultural transmission from France, are elucidated as we follow Christina in her multiple roles of promoter, inventor and dancer of the ballets.

Queen Christina of Sweden danced herself in the ballets she promoted. From the beginning of her personal rule until her abdication (1644–1654) court ballet was Christina’s privileged medium of political propaganda. Based on unstudied and unpublished sources,The Queen Danced Alone offers a survey of participants in the production and performances  – authors, dancers, musicians, artists – as well as the arts involved: dance, music, poetry, set design and costumes. Christina’s patronage is especially evident in the heroic motives of the ballets. Her self-fashioning through the parts of the goddesses Diana and Pallas mirrored her role as a young, unmarried and learned monarch and aimed at liberating her from the expectation of providing an heir to the throne. The praise of virtues such as self-control and chastity represented her as a superior being devoted to wisdom. Christina’s ballets supported her most important aim: independence.