John Durang

[2] John Durang was the eldest of seven children born to parents who had immigrated to the United States from the Alsace region of northeastern France, bordering Germany.

[citation needed] John Durang was born in Lancaster, in the home of his mother's sister, but he grew up mostly in nearby York (aka Yorktown).

[4] As early as 1780, at age twelve, he learned "the correct style of dancing a hornpipe" from a visiting French dancer and made it his specialty.

From his collaboration with, among others, Alexandre Placide, he acquired skills in classical ballet, acting, fencing, acrobatics, tightrope walking (rope dancing), clowning, pantomime, choreography, and theater management.

In 1794, he appeared in Ann Julia Hatton's Tammany: The Indian Chief, whose hero, also called Tamanend, was a popular figure in local history.

[citation needed] Soon thereafter, Durang danced with well-known ballerina Anna Gardie in La Forêt Noire, the first serious ballet given in America.

Equestrian acts were at the heart of the circus, but the roster of performers also included clowns, comic dancers, acrobats, and a rope walker as well as actors in playlets and pantomimes.

From 1800 to 1819, Durang acted, produced, and directed theater in Philadelphia during the winter while touring with his traveling troupe of performers to outlying areas during the summer.

All were trained as dancers and actors in their youth, and all six of them accompanied their father on summer tours of towns around Philadelphia, where he presented bits of plays, ballets, acrobatics, puppet shows, equestrian feats, and the ever-popular hornpipe.

Ferdinand had a long career as an actor and dancer but is best remembered as the musician who suggested the tune for Francis Scott Key's poem that eventually became the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner".