Isaac the Performer

Between 1670 and 1672 Isaac danced in comédie-ballets by Molière and Lully in Paris, both at the court premieres and in the Palais Royal theatre. In doing so, he worked alongside the leading French dancers Pierre Beauchamps, Anne-Louis Lestang, Adrian Merger de Saint-André, and others. His roles in Les Amants Magnifiques, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and Le Ballet des Ballets indicate that he possessed skills in serious, grotesque and character dancing. It was probably King Charles II’s favourite son James, Duke of Monmouth, who encouraged Isaac to come to London in 1672 and dance several roles in his own masque for which the royal tailor’s bill for the costumes survives. In 1675 Isaac danced in the court masque Calisto at Whitehall Palace, in a cast which included Monmouth and the royal princesses Mary and Anne as well as some of Isaac’s former colleagues from Paris.