El jaleo de Jeres (the new cachoucha), danced by Madlle Fanny Elssler in the grand ballet La gitana: at her Majestys Theatre, the courts of Paris & St. Petersburgh Arranged for the piano forte, by C. W. Glover

What you are looking at

A theatrical stage scene set in a Spanish interior, rendered in dense black engraving on cream paper. A young woman in a white dress with a voluminous skirt dominates the foreground, her body caught mid-turn, one arm raised and the other extended. Her posture suggests rapid rotational movement. The setting is dimly lit and Gothic in feeling—a narrow passageway or alcove with deep shadows, arched doorways, and figures barely visible in the background. The composition is framed by an ornate decorative border of scrolls and flourishes, typical of music-cover engravings of the era. The woman's face is in profile, her attention directed toward the movement rather than outward. The skirt's swirl suggests a moment of suspended velocity.

The dancing

A single featured dancer, with additional figures in shadow. The principal dancer's frame is notably upright and frontal despite the rotational torque implied by the skirt's arc; her arms are styled in a romantic-ballet aesthetic—one raised above the head, one extended at shoulder height. The weight appears to shift through the turn; the leg supporting the movement is not clearly visible beneath the skirt's volume, but the upper body suggests a pivot en dehors. No partnering is evident, though the background figures suggest a theatrical ensemble.

The dance depicted

This print illustrates *El jaleo de Jeres* (The new cachoucha), danced by the celebrated dancer Fanny Elssler. The cachoucha was a Spanish-Cuban social dance that became a signature solo for Elssler and a major vehicle for romantic-era performers in the 1830s–1840s. The jaleo—a rapid, excited state—refers to the energy and virtuosity expected of the form. The print captures the characteristic elements: a single female dancer, rapid turning, a full skirt deployed as a dynamic element of the choreography, and a theatrical Spanish setting. Elssler's performance of this dance in London, Paris, and St. Petersburg was celebrated for its technical brilliance and dramatic presence.

How it was made

This is an engraving (likely steel-faced for durability), printed in black on wove paper and hand-tinted or left in monochrome. The fine cross-hatching and stippling create depth and shadow in the theatrical interior; the technique allowed for mass production and wide circulation—this was a popular theatrical souvenir and music-hall keepsake. The ornate framing border is characteristic of mid-19th-century sheet music covers and theatrical prints, serving both an aesthetic and marketing function. The medium's precision would have appealed to audiences wanting an accurate record of a celebrated performer and a memorable moment.

About this work

This engraving documents a celebrated performance of *El jaleo de Jeres*, a Spanish-inflected solo dance at the heart of the romantic ballet repertory. Fanny Elssler, one of the era's most virtuosic and charismatic dancers, performed this piece across Europe to enormous acclaim. The print functions as both a theatrical advertisement and a souvenir—a way for audiences who saw (or wished to see) the performance to own a memento. The cachoucha itself represents a key moment in ballet history: the incorporation of social and national dances into theatrical choreography, the celebration of individual virtuosity (especially female virtuosity), and the rise of the international dance celebrity. The image shows the dancer at a moment of rotational intensity, the skirt and upright frame conveying both technical control and theatrical presence.

How to look at it

Watch the skirt: it is the primary record of the movement. The way it fans and swirls outward tells you that the dancer is turning rapidly and with controlled power. Notice the dancer's upright carriage despite the rotational energy—this is a mark of classical training. The setting (the Spanish alcove) is theatrical and dramatic, not naturalistic; the sparse background figures place the soloist as the unambiguous focus. The decorative border frames the scene as a precious, collectable image—you are meant to want to own this moment. The profile view of the face is characteristic of romantic-era portraiture; it allows the body and its movement to be read without distraction from the dancer's expression.

The artist

The engraver is not identified in the catalogue record. The composer and arranger C. W. Glover prepared a piano-forte arrangement of music for the dance; Glover was a prolific arranger and conductor working in London in the mid-19th century. The print was published by Dewitt & Jaques of Broadway, New York, a major theatrical and music publisher of the period. The combination of engraver (anonymous), arranger (Glover), and publisher suggests a commercial theatrical-print operation producing both sheet music and performance documentation for an audience hungry for dance and musical entertainment.

The period

The romantic ballet era (roughly 1830–1860) was defined by a new interest in national and exotic dance forms, the elevation of the female dancer as the primary spectacle, and the emergence of international touring companies and star performers. Fanny Elssler's career (1820–1884) precisely spanned this era; she was known for her earthy, technically brilliant style in contrast to Marie Taglioni's ethereal, pointe-centered method. The cachoucha and other Spanish-Cuban dances were fashionable across Europe, appealing to romantic-era tastes for the picturesque and the sensual. The period saw an explosion of theatrical prints, sheet-music covers, and illustrated periodicals documenting famous dancers and performances—these objects were central to how dance circulated in the public imagination before photography.

Where it lives

This object is held in the New York Public Library's collection of prints depicting dance, part of the NYPL's extensive holdings of 19th-century theatrical ephemera. It functions as both a musical score annotation (C. W. Glover's piano arrangement) and a performance souvenir—a hybrid object that served multiple audiences: musicians, theater-goers, and collectors of dance iconography.

Dance in this work

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