“Brooks' writing is precise and evocative...based on painstaking archival and journalistic research alongside a broad knowledge of secondary sources.... [I]t is also an enjoyable narrative nonfiction read and should be of interest to readers who are curious about Pennsylvania and Philadelphia history.”—Pennsylvania Heritage

“It’s a rich study of theatrical and social dance in Philadelphia in a selected period of history. Brooks includes detailed accounts of Philadelphia’s theaters and dance halls, the productions that were mounted, and the careers of major dance stars, both in ballet and blackface. At the same time, it offers a broader view of that historical period, supplying context through insights into life across social strata, through the lens of entertainment and pastimes, reaching beyond mere dates and major figures."—Broad Street Review

“Theatres of the Body points to the potential that archives hold for critical reexamination of questions too often left in the shade of famous figures and world-changing events. Throughout, Brooks’ ground breaking and diligent archival work is admirable and offers many fruitful avenues for future scholars, not only of dance but of cultural history more generally.”—Dance Chronicle

“Lynn Matluck Brooks’s Theatres of the Body is a lucid examination of ballet, social dance, and blackface minstrelsy as intricately woven into the very fabric of antebellum Philadelphia society. Her fine historical research connects a broad range of cultural practices, from visual art imagery to printmaking processes to scientific methods of taxonomy, to illustrate how the dance was conceived and perceived. Theatres of the Body is a fascinating account of nineteenth-century discourses about the dancing body that illuminates questions of power, hierarchy, and freedom in a new nation struggling to define itself.”—Julie Malnig, Professor of Dance and Theatre Studies at the Gallatin School at New York University, and author of Dancing Black, Dancing White: Rock ’n’ Roll, Race, and Youth Culture of the 1950s and Early 1960s

“Theatres of the Body illuminates unexpected connections between two of the most popular performance forms in antebellum Philadelphia: ballet and blackface minstrelsy. Combining new archival discoveries with fresh insights into well-known material, Brooks demonstrates the centrality of the dancing body to antebellum debates on race, gender, science, and citizenship. An important contribution not only to theatre and dance studies but also to the cultural and intellectual history of the antebellum period.” —Christian Ducomb, Associate Professor of Theatre at Colgate University, and author of Haunted City: Three Centuries of Racial Impersonation in Philadelphia