A groundbreaking investigation of issues of gender, power and representation of sovereignty in French Baroque dance repertoires - in particular, court ballet - and in today’s performances of them. Mark Franko uses powerful interpretive tools derived from historiography and critical theory, especially the work of German-Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin, to offer the reader both a historical and a theoretical interpretation of this genre of dance in France (c. 1600-1750), as well as its aftermath and legacy today. Through doing so, he reaches conclusions about how sovereignty and power...