Anatomical and Mechanical Lectures upon Dancing, Wherein Rules and Institutions for that Art are laid down and demonstrated; As they were Read at the Academy in Chancery Lane (Weaver, London 1721)

Dance manual/reference by John Weaver (Master of Dance, Shrewsbury) / Printed for J. Brotherton, and W. Meadows, at the Black Bull in Cornhill; J. Graves, near White's Chocolate House in St. James's Street; and W. Chetwood, at Cato's Head in Russell Street, Covent Garden. London, MDCCXXI (1721). Subscribers list (engraved at front): Mr. Caverley (Master of the Academy), Mr. Birkhead, Mr. Couch, Mr. De la Garde, Mr. Eastland of St. Edmonds Bury, Mr. Essex (John), Mr. Essex (William), Mr. Firbank, Mr. Graham, Mr. Griesdale, Mr. Haydock, Mr. Hale, Mr. Hele of Salisbury, Mr. Holt (Walter), Mr. Holt (William), Mr. King of Jamaica, Mr. Lally (Edmund), Mr. Lally (Edward), Mr. Orlebar, Mr. Pemberton (Edmund), Mr. Pemberton (James), Mr. Shaw, Mr. Shirley, Mr. Spinks of the Bath, Mr. Topham, Mr. Tyrrill, Mr. Wade — the same dancing-master subscriber roll as the 1706 Weaver-Isaac and 1712 Weaver-Essay volumes (Caverley, the Pembertons, Hele of Salisbury, the Lallys), confirming the cohesion of the early-18c London-Bath-Dublin dancing-master profession. Source: Library of Dance ABBYY-OCR'd Biblioteca Nacional de España scan (1721-Weaver-Anatomical_(BNE).pdf + ABBYY TXT 1721-Weaver-Anatomical_(BNE).txt, 205KB). HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE: This is the FOUNDATIONAL ENGLISH-LANGUAGE TEXT ON DANCE KINESIOLOGY, predating modern dance-science by 200 years. Weaver applies anatomical-and-mechanical method to dance pedagogy: lectures on the Bones (Skull, Vertebrae, Trunk, Limbs); the Joints (Diarthrosis, Synchondrosis, Synarthrosis, Enarthrosis, Ginglymus); the Muscles; and their application to the five positions, plies, releves, sautes, jetés, sissones, contre-temps, balons, cabrioles, pirouettes — establishing the anatomical-pedagogical paradigm later adopted by Magri (1779), Blasis (1820), Bournonville, Cecchetti, Vaganova. Weaver's three works form a unified corpus: 1706 Weaver-Isaac (notation), 1712 Weaver-Essay (history/aesthetics), 1721 Weaver-Anatomical (kinesiology). Together they constitute the most-substantial English-language dance-theory output of the entire 18th century. THIS SYLLABUS HAS NO ENUMERATED FIGURES — it is purely theoretical/anatomical content (matching the pattern of LOC-1712-WEAVER, also figureless) and is registered for CORPUS COMPLETENESS rather than Rosetta-stone yield. (1721). Imported from local collection.