'So Great a Master as Mr Isaac': an exemplary dancing-master of late Stuart London

By the end of the 17th century one of the most infl uential dancing-masters in London was Mr Isaac. His success was due not only to his own abilities as a dancing-master and to his contacts with the highest levels of London society, but also to the publication of his dances in a new system of dance notation available in London by 1706. He was the first London dancing-master to benefi t on a large scale from this innovation, and 22 of his dances survive as publications issued after 1706. They represent dances created for performance at court, many of them to celebrate the birthdays of Queen Anne or of other members of the royal family, and subsequently sold in notated form as souvenirs and for pedagogic purposes. More significantly, they also suggest that Mr Isaac was working at a time of transition after which royal birthday dances presented at court were as likely to be performed by professionals as by courtiers, and thus were sometimes taken into the commercial theatre. This article also addresses the unresolved question of the identity of Mr Isaac, and examines the likelihood that he was Edward Isaac, a Catholic dancing-master associated with the circle of musicians and dancers working for the Stuart royal family after the Restoration.