DANCE COLLECTION DANSE

Members of the Rossley Kiddie Company, St. John’s, 1917. These costumes provide a good indication of the personification of nations
that was typical in patriotic tableaux.
Photo courtesy of the Rossley Kiddie Company Collection (COLL-472, 1.01.007), Archives and Special Collections, Memorial Libraries
He created a rather elaborate system
determining how certain body parts
should be used to communicate
specific emotions and behaviours.
Delsarte’s methods were introduced
to America in the 1870s by
an actor and teacher named Steele
MacKaye who had studied with
Delsarte in France; one of MacKaye’s
students, Genevieve Stebbins,
also helped to spread Delsarte’s
teachings in New York and Boston.
Considering that the routes of many
of the Newfoundland steamship
companies connect St. John’s to
Halifax, New York and Boston, it
is easy to imagine how Delsartean
Expression and its use in tableaux
could influence performances in St.
John’s. There are several accounts
of tableaux in St. John’s dating back
to the 1890s as entertainment, as a
diversion at school assemblies, or as
performances in aid of organizations
such as the Church Lads’ Brigade.
The records of patriotic performances
uncovered in this research
reveal that Mrs. Colville participated
in twenty-nine out of thirty-five
shows over the course of the war
and we know she missed some
shows because she was in the U.K.
She was variously a performer,
organizer, director and choreographer,
and she often worked with
Mrs. Herbert Outerbridge and Mrs.
Chater. Participants in many of these
concerts include names of old and
affluent St. John’s families such as
Outerbridge, Clift, Reid, Rendell,
Ayre, Job, LeMessurier, Bowring,
Baird and Harvey, as well as wellknown
artistic families such as
Charles Hutton and the Rossleys.
John and Adelaide Browning also
played an important role in patriotic
work through organizational efforts
and through their estate, Vigornia.
The Brownings provided the estate
grounds for several garden fêtes
and patriotic performances to raise
funds for charitable war work. Mrs.
Browning also opened her doors two
or three afternoons per week for the
members of the Women’s Patriotic
Association (WPA) to do their work.
In November 1917, Mrs. Browning
returned from a trip to Canada (a
separate country from Newfoundland
at the time) where she had met
doctors and nurses with experience
in treating consumption. One of her
particular causes was Jensen Camp,
which had been created primarily
on her initiative in 1916 as a hospital
for soldiers with tuberculosis. The
Evening Telegram on June 11, 1918
reported the status of fundraising
for Jensen Camp and listed Mrs.
Colville’s contribution from the
proceeds of patriotic performances
at $410. In 1918, Mrs. Browning
was made an officer of the Order
of the British Empire for her work
with the WPA and Jensen Camp.
Vigornia was situated on King’s
Bridge Road where
the Family Court
now resides. A successful
garden fête
was held on July 14,
1915 and this may
be the first of such
activity at Vigornia.
It was held under
the patronage
of the Governor
Mrs. Adelaide
Browning as
depicted in The
Distaff, 1916
26 Dance Collection Danse