57

Using diaries and archival sources this article unearths the influence of the largely unknown immigration of Italian dancers on the spectacles of eighteenth-century France. Pinpointing Italian dancers, analyzing the fascination aroused by their virtuosity and reconstituting the main stages of their sojourns in Paris, in the provinces, as well as their international stopovers all throw light on where and how exchanges of dance practice come about. Thus the Italian style cannot just be confined to the tipi fissi, and it is possible to determine more precisely the role of certain ballet masters such as Billioni and Sody in the hybridization of genres permitted by the pantomime. The exchanges work both ways which explains why some French dancers were drawn to Italian theatres at the end of the century.