Signora Violante (1682â€"1741) was a rope-dancer, acrobat, commedia
dell'arte actor and theatre company manager.Signora Violante was
Italian or French, and was active as a performer from 1720. She was
married to an Italian, Senor Violante, a rope-slider. Neither her
maiden or married name are known for certain, and she and her husband
are also sometimes named as Larini in contemporary newspaper accounts.
She is also known as Madam Violante and Mrs Violante in 18th century
sources.Her children were among the performers in her troupe. Her
daughter Rosina Violante, a dancer, later married dancer George
Richard Estcourt Luppino, son of dancers George Charles Luppino and
Charlotte Mary Estcourt, and forebear of the Lupino family of
performers and designers.Violante's first appearances in London, in
the spring of 1720, were working with De Grimbergue's French company
at the King's Theatre and Lincoln's Inn Fields theatres. Her
performances in these shows included rope dancing with flags,
sometimes advertised in bills as "The Flourishing of the Colours"; her
rope-dancing inspired a poem published in Oxoniensis on 6 June 1720.
Another reported act of Violante's was, while on the slack rope, to
dance a minuet, with a child hanging from each ankle. In 1727 Violante
is said to have danced on the tight rope with swords tied to her legs,
a child balanced on her shoulders, and two children on her ankles.
dell'arte actor and theatre company manager.Signora Violante was
Italian or French, and was active as a performer from 1720. She was
married to an Italian, Senor Violante, a rope-slider. Neither her
maiden or married name are known for certain, and she and her husband
are also sometimes named as Larini in contemporary newspaper accounts.
She is also known as Madam Violante and Mrs Violante in 18th century
sources.Her children were among the performers in her troupe. Her
daughter Rosina Violante, a dancer, later married dancer George
Richard Estcourt Luppino, son of dancers George Charles Luppino and
Charlotte Mary Estcourt, and forebear of the Lupino family of
performers and designers.Violante's first appearances in London, in
the spring of 1720, were working with De Grimbergue's French company
at the King's Theatre and Lincoln's Inn Fields theatres. Her
performances in these shows included rope dancing with flags,
sometimes advertised in bills as "The Flourishing of the Colours"; her
rope-dancing inspired a poem published in Oxoniensis on 6 June 1720.
Another reported act of Violante's was, while on the slack rope, to
dance a minuet, with a child hanging from each ankle. In 1727 Violante
is said to have danced on the tight rope with swords tied to her legs,
a child balanced on her shoulders, and two children on her ankles.
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