363:, Augustus Felix, Charlotte Elizabeth, Juliet Catherine ("Julia"), and Mary Ann. All were trained as dancers and actors in their youth, and all six of them accompanied their father on summer tours of towns around Philadelphia, where he presented bits of plays, ballets, acrobatics, puppet shows, equestrian feats, and the ever-popular hornpipe. Charles followed in his father's varied footsteps as an actor, ballet master, author, and stage manager. Ferdinand had a long career as an actor and dancer but is best remembered as the musician who suggested the tune for
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also included clowns, comic dancers, acrobats, and a rope walker as well as actors in playlets and pantomimes. Durang's talents were tailor-made for the job. He worked as a writer, producer, and dancer with the
Ricketts Circus, both in Philadelphia and New York, from 1796 until 1799. Among its patrons was George Washington, a riding enthusiast, who is known to have attended performances in 1793 and 1797, when he certainly witnessed Durang dancing his hornpipe.
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became known as "Durang's
Hornpipe." Hoffmaster's given name is absent from records of the time. As he was quite short, under four feet tall, he is described as a "German dwarf." The tune was an immediate hit and is still popular among bluegrass fiddlers of today. Durang continued to dance to it for many years, as it had become his signature piece, but he augmented his hornpipe repertory with other tunes.
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his own traveling troupe of performers to outlying areas during the summer. Among the works he staged was
Francis Hopkinson's song-poem "The Battle of the Kegs", a pioneering attempt at introducing American themes onto American stages. After almost two decades at the Southwark, he retired from the theater in 1819.
249:(aka Yorktown). He was educated at the Christ Lutheran Church school, where instruction was in German, supplemented by French and English. He had no formal dance training, but he was, according to his memoirs, attracted to the liveliness of the hornpipe, which "charmed his mind," while he was still a boy.
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Charlotte and Julia were both successful dancers and actresses. The former had a relatively brief career, but Julia, under her married names, became quite famous. Between 1822 and 1837, Julia Durang Godey
Wallace appeared on stage in New York in at least sixty-seven different productions of ballets,
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to produce pantomimes with his
Philadelphia circus. Begun as a riding school that gave equestrian exhibitions, the circus was housed in a building called the New Amphitheater, which included both a riding ring and a stage. Equestrian acts were at the heart of the circus, but the roster of performers
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Hallam's company advertised its performances as "lectures," as plays and ballets were then legally banned, and specialized in presenting patriotic extravaganzas. During his first season with the company, Durang took violin lessons from a musician named
Hoffmaster, who composed a tune for him that
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When
Ricketts closed his shows, Durang turned to theater management and became a partner in Philadelphia's famed Southwark Theater, where President Washington was a frequent patron. From 1800 to 1819, Durang acted, produced, and directed theater in Philadelphia during the winter while touring with
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Their mother, Mary McEwen Durang, was also a sometime dancer but was largely occupied with raising her children. After she died of tuberculosis in 1812, John Durang married again, but nothing is recorded about his second wife except her name, Elizabeth.
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In his later years, Durang largely gave up performing, describing himself as a "dance instructor" in his memoirs. He died in 1822 at age fifty-four and, according to his expressed wishes, was buried in Saint Mary's churchyard in
Philadelphia.
327:, was a popular figure in local history. It was one of the first operas written in the United States with an American subject and is the earliest known drama about Native Americans. Soon thereafter, Durang danced with well-known ballerina
277:, a comic piece about an amorous landlady and a group of Jack Tars. His performance of the number solidified his reputation as an unparalleled performer of the dance. The tune for it is still thought of as "
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As early as 1780, at age twelve, he learned "the correct style of dancing a hornpipe" from a visiting French dancer and made it his specialty. At fifteen he left home, went to Boston, and in 1785 joined
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John Durang was the eldest of seven children born to parents who had immigrated to the United States from the Alsace region of northeastern France, bordering
Germany. His father, Jacob Durang, was from
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plays, and operas. Augustus gave up performing, became a sailor, and was lost at sea. Mary Ann, the youngest of the siblings, danced on stage in her youth but then dropped out of sight.
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Around this time, as the federal anti-theater laws were being relaxed, many
European performers began to visit the United States. From his collaboration with, among others,
304:, he acquired skills in classical ballet, acting, fencing, acrobatics, tightrope walking (rope dancing), clowning, pantomime, choreography, and theater management.
508:(Philadelphia: Turner and Fisher, 1848) -- a theatrical guide compiled by John Durang's son, containing music for "Durang's Hornpipe" and a description of his steps.
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560:, 2nd ed., edited by Charles Hiroshi Garrett (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013). Also available in
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Arthur Todd, "Four Centuries of American Dance: Spotlight on John Durang, Mme Gadie, and the Placides",
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John Durang was born in Lancaster, in the home of his mother's sister, but he grew up mostly in nearby
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495:, edited by Selma Jeanne Cohen and others (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), vol. 2, p. 467.
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He toured with the Hallam troupe for seven years, performing as Saramouche in a harlequinade called
198:(January 6, 1768 – March 31, 1822) was the first native-born American to become known as a dancer.
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In February 1787, Durang had married Mary McEwen, also a dancer, with whom he had six children:
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A History of Equestrian Drama in the United States: Hippodrama’s Pure Air and Fire
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The Fiddler's Fakebook: The Ultimate Sourcebook for the Traditional Fiddler
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403:, edited by Paul David Magriel (New York: Da Capo Press, 1948), pp. 15-37.
367:'s poem that eventually became the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner".
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629:. Retrieved 4 October 2015. Containing notes from Joseph N. Ireland,
627:"The Durang Family" and "Durang Family Members on the New York Stage"
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Dance, Modernity, and Culture: Explorations in the Sociology of Dance
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633:, vol. 1 (New York: Benjamin Bloom, 1866), and George C Odell,
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Chronicles of American Dance: From the Shakers to Martha Graham
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637:, vols. 3 and 4 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1928).
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Lillian Moore, "John Durang: The First American Dancer,"
469:(Harleysville, Pa.: Alcom Printing Group, 2000), p. 8.
417:. New York: Routledge. pp. 31, 34, 36–37, 40n31.
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Elizabeth ? (m. ?-March 31, 1822; his death)
205:'s favorite performer, he was famous for dancing the
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The Memoir of John Durang, American Actor, 1785-1876
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In 1790, Durang danced a nautical-style hornpipe in
230:. Soon after their arrival in 1767, they settled in
465:, vol. 28, p. 77; as transcribed by Edwina Hare in
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
226:; his mother, Catherine (Arten) Durang, was from
461:Edwin Forrest Durang, 4 April 1884, recorded in
590:(London and New York: Routledge, 1995), pg. 34.
601:"At the Circus: Astley, Ricketts, and Durang"
545:"At the Circus: Astley, Ricketts, and Durang"
491:Barbara Ferreri Malinsky, "Durang, John," in
335:, the first serious ballet given in America.
319:. In 1794, he appeared in Ann Julia Hatton's
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519:Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing
296:, in Washington Street, Boston 19th century
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109:Learn how and when to remove this message
631:Records of the New York Stage, 1750-1860
506:The Ball-room Bijou, and Art of Dancing
482:(University of Pittsburgh Press, 1966).
399:1 (August 1942), 120-139. Reprinted in
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179:Mary McEwen (m. ?-1812; her death)
614:The Grove Dictionary of American Music
558:The Grove Dictionary of American Music
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
556:Claude Conyers, "Durang, John," in
534:(New York: Oak Publications, 1992).
493:International Encyclopedia of Dance
577:(New York), April 1980, pp. 24-25.
521:(Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002.
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704:People from colonial Pennsylvania
674:19th-century American male actors
669:18th-century American male actors
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315:, as Friday in a production of
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689:People from York, Pennsylvania
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709:19th-century American dancers
338:In 1795, Durang was hired by
635:Annals of the New York Stage
603:. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
547:. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
463:Catholic Historical Research
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684:American circus performers
679:American male stage actors
413:Poppiti, Kimberly (2018).
323:, whose hero, also called
189:Jacob and Catherine Durang
699:Artists from Philadelphia
612:Conyers, "Durang, John",
321:Tammany: The Indian Chief
288:Sheet music for Durang's
232:York County, Pennsylvania
530:David Brody, compiler,
240:Pennssilfaanish Deitsch
145:Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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664:American male dancers
478:Alan S. Downer, ed.,
423:10.4324/9781315145532
351:Family and later life
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279:The Sailor's Hornpipe
694:18th-century dancers
275:The Wapping Landlady
259:Old American Company
43:improve this article
562:Oxford Music Online
265:Professional career
340:John Bill Ricketts
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236:Pennsylvania Dutch
616:, 2nd ed. (2013).
467:The Durang Family
432:978-1-315-14553-2
365:Francis Scott Key
361:Richard Ferdinand
302:Alexandre Placide
203:George Washington
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659:1822 deaths
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648:Categories
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383:References
224:Strasbourg
137:1768-01-06
69:newspapers
313:blackface
290:Horn Pipe
186:Parent(s)
176:Spouse(s)
325:Tamanend
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