Kate Vaughan

Kate Vaughan (1852 – 21 February 1903) was the stage name of Catherine Alice Candelin, a British dancer and actress. She was best known for developing the skirt dance and has been called the "greatest dancer of her time".

After performing as a young girl, Vaughan had a seven-year engagement at the Gaiety Theatre in London from 1876 to 1883, where she joined its Victorian burlesque troupe that included Nellie Farren and Edward Terry. She was married, for a decade, to Colonel the Hon Frederick Arthur Wellesley, son of the 1st Earl Cowley. She retired from dancing in 1885 and soon began to tour in classic comedies with considerable success. From about 1896 her health began to deteriorate, but she continued to perform until her death.

Vaughan was born in London; as a young girl she appeared on stage in the West End, where her father was an orchestral musician. She is associated with the development of the skirt dance, which she performed as part of an 1873 production of Orpheus in the Underworld. She appeared with her sister Susie as the Vaughan Sisters. The skirt dance was a demure version of the can-can, and it was performed with long skirts made from large lengths of material. After she had retired from dancing she described her technique to an interviewer:

I was the first to dance in skirts reaching the ankles; I never went in for serpentine dances, trailing garments, or movements of the arms and the whole body – mine was genuine dancing and nothing else. I invented the steps myself, and my full-length lace skirts were a novelty in those days, when the ballet was the only style in vogue.

In 1876 her main work was at John Hollingshead's Gaiety Theatre in London, where she was employed for the next seven years. This was a time when Nellie Farren, Edward O'Connor Terry and E. W. Royce were the stars at the theatre, particularly in Victorian burlesque. In June 1884 Vaughan married Colonel the Hon Frederick Arthur Wellesley, whose father was the 1st Earl of Cowley; she was the second of Wellesley's three wives. After a break she reappeared on stage in the summer of 1885, where she did a short cameo appearance for just two well-received minutes each night. At the height of her career she was being paid £72 a week to appear as a dancer.

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