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dance as a profession. No theatrical profession suffered more profoundly from the stigma of illegitimacy than dance, given its association with the body. Stigmas attached to the female body in motion were connected to our country's earliest European inhabitants. For Bostonians, and most Americans, ballet remained an exotic curiosity. Americans tended to perceive dance as spectacle rather than as artistry, and the expressive capacity of ballet was lost on most American audiences. Both French ballet stars of the Romantic period and talented Italian technicians toured America during the nineteenth century. They encountered a country with few theaters and audiences who were completely ignorant of the intricacies of the ballet form.
In addition to the financial and physical challenges faced by the touring ballerina, there was also the perception that artists were in some way morally suspect. This perception was magnified in ballet because of its use of the body as a means of expression and because female beauty was frequently emphasized in theatrical advertisements. French pseudonyms were often used to add subtle sexual allure to ballet programs in America. In Europe, it was acceptable for dancers to acquire wealthy lovers; the practice had been common for decades, and famous dancers frequently had children out of wedlock who were quietly raised by family members. Americans looked unfavorably upon such practices. Although they tolerated and sometimes even celebrated visiting European dancers, the young American girl could not engage in the art of Terpsichore without throwing away all respectability.
Those young American women who were engaged as corps de ballet members, or “ballet girls,” came from the very bottom of the social ladder. They were often factory workers, runaways or women trying to survive in the city.23 In some cases, the stigma attached to ballet girls was so pervasive that dancing masters could not find enough women to hire. For example, when a version of the popular spectacle extravaganza The Black Crook toured San Francisco, dancing masters were unable to find enough women to hire for the corps de ballet. Eventually, the producers hired a group of the city's prostitutes.24 Producers happily accentuated the sexuality of the female dancers, reinforcing accepted stigmas. Once