{"id":2416,"date":"2025-07-15T15:23:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.histoiredebal.com\/?p=2416"},"modified":"2025-07-17T06:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T05:24:08","slug":"la-westendaise-danse-nouvelle-par-j-quesnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.histoiredebal.com\/en\/2025\/07\/15\/la-westendaise-danse-nouvelle-par-j-quesnel\/","title":{"rendered":"La Westendaise, a novelty dance by J. Quesnel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today I bring you to the beach with the dance “La Westendaise<\/em>” (the one from Westende). Westende is a town on the Belgian coast – very close to Ostend, which gave its name to the famous Ostendaise <\/em>by Kevers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For once, it will also be an opportunity to highlight three women: a choreographer, a composer and a publisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choreographer : Juliette Quesnel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The score of La Westendaise<\/em> is signed \u2018J. Quesnel, professeur de danse \u00e0 Bruxelles\u2019. The catalogue of the Royal Library of Belgium listed the other composer as \u2018Jacques Quesnel\u2019. And naively, I believed him. Except that there was no trace of a Jacques Quesnel in the Belgian capital at the turn of the twentieth century!<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"La
J. Quesnel (th\u00e9orie), T. Valdury (musique), La Westendaise. Danse nouvelle<\/em>, Chez Mme G. Beyer – successeur de V. Gevaert, Gand, undated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

However, the name of Juliette Quesnel appeared regularly. So I began my research heroically, by asking a correction in the catalogue of the library. It now mentions all correct information. This is not the first time that an error is spotted in a library catalogue (cf. La bougie de No\u00ebl<\/a>), so be careful during your research!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juliette Quesnel was born in Brussels in 1868. Dancing did not seem to be the obvious path for Juliette. At the age of 22, she took over a lingerie shop in Brussels (Le Soir<\/em>, October 16, 1890, ed.1, p.3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1894, she opened a dance class on Chauss\u00e9e d’Ixelles, still in Brussels (Le Soir<\/em>, October 3, 1894, ed.1, p.3). The classes in Brussels continued in various premises – the previous ones having apparently became too cramped. Between 1899 and 1904, Juliette organised several children’s balls and carnivals in her home town (e.g. L’ind\u00e9pendance belge<\/em>, February 1, 1903, ed.1, p.2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the summer 1895, she was in charge of the dance lessons and evenings at the Kursaal of Middelkerke, on the Belgian coast. She seemed to be there in residence every summer until at least 1900.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 1904, Juliette married Marcel Raymond, a Liege luthier’s son, and takes his name. She went on on her dance teaching path as “Madame Raymond” until at least 1908. After that I lost her track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The composer : Valentine Bruneel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The website The LiederNet Archive<\/a> states 1867 as Valentine’s year of birth. Therefore, she must have been… 9 years old… when she married the Ghent’s industrialist Ernest Dutry in 1876. This is either morally wrong, of factually wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"announcement
Announcement for the wedding of Ernest Dutry-Colson and Valentine Bruneel, 1876, Archives of Ghent University<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The website Geneanet <\/a>states the dates of 1855-1944 for Valentine Bruneel, which is much more reasonable (marriage at 21). The year of birth in 1855 is also confirmed by the newspaper Bien Public <\/em>on June 21, 1876:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Wedding
“Mariages”, Bien Public<\/em>, 21 juin 1876, \u00e9d.1, p.3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We don’t know much about Valentine’s life, only that she pursued a modest career as composer, under the pseudonym T. Valdury. This is obviously an anagram of Val. Dutry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suppose that she used a pseudonym to protect her reputation in case of failure of her first works. Or, to protect the reputation of her husband, a public figure. Very soon, it appears that her true identity was of public knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valentine’s moment of glory happened in 1913, during the Ghent International Exposition. On that occasion, the Palais des Travaux F\u00e9minins<\/em> (Palace of the women’s works), reserved for women musicians, composers and performers, played works by T. Valdury several times (Vaderland<\/em>, “Wereldtentoonstelling van Gent 1913. In het vrouwenpaleis”, July 17, 1913, p.3, and “La musique au Palais des Travaux f\u00e9minins”, in: Les F\u00eates musicales \u00e0 l’Exposition Universelle de Gand 1913<\/em>, Gent, 1913, p. 33, quoted by the Studie centrum Vlaamse Muziek<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides La Westendaise<\/em>, she also wrote a number of songs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n