Kellom Tomlinson

Kellom Tomlinson (also spelt Kenelm) was an English dancing master and choreographer active in London in the first half of the eighteenth century. His dates of birth and death are not documented with certainty, and are therefore approximated as 1693 and 1754. He is of interest chiefly for his notation manuscript and for the treatise on ballroom dancing that he left behind.

He trained as an apprentice to the London dancing master Thomas Caverley, with whom he remained from 1707 until around 1714, and he also received instruction in stage dancing from René Cherrier. Between 1708 and 1721 he assembled a manuscript containing theatrical pieces of his own and of other authors, including one of the earliest notations of a minuet by Caverley. Several of his dances were published each year between 1715 and 1720, with music by Jean Baptiste Loeillet, Babell and Tomlinson himself. In 1718 he broke with the publisher John Walsh in order to publish and sell his works on his own account.

His principal legacy is The Art of Dancing, whose two volumes appeared in London in 1735 and were reissued in 1744. Illustrated with engravings, the work addresses the execution and timing of steps and describes the ballroom minuet, which makes it a valuable source for understanding the dancing practice of its time.