born July 21, 1673, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng.
died Sept. 24, 1760, Shrewsbury
English dancer and teacher, known as "the father of English pantomime.
" From 1700 to 1736 he performed and produced his dance dramas at the Drury Lane and Lincoln's Inn Fields theatres. His libretto for The Loves of Mars and Venus (1717) was the first published dance drama and displayed the integration of plot and dance that was later developed by Jean-Georges Noverre and Gasparo Angiolini as the ballet d'action .