While the Women’s Patriotic Association (WPA) mobilized its members to produce socks, bandages, and other items of comfort for the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, another contingent of these motivated and productive women chose to stage performances in order to aid the war effort. Largely under the direction of WPA member Helen Colville, a variety of dance performances and tableaux vivants were presented at St. John’s theatres and garden fêtes to boost morale and raise funds. In this context, can we consider dance another form of distaff work? This talk will reveal the role of dance performances in Newfoundland’s war effort, the women who staged them, and the links between female performers and the post-war suffrage movement.
View Lecture: The “Other” Distaff Work