Johanne Rosing

Who was Johanne Rosing?

Johanne Cathrine Rosing, née Olsen, was a Danish stage actress and ballet dancer, one of the most noted of the era.

Born in a poor home as the daughter of an unemployed Norwegian bricklayer, she was a maid before she became a student of the French Ballet company at the court theatre and, in 1772, of the Royal Danish Ballet, when the court theatre became a part of the Royal Danish Theatre. There, she was made an actress in 1773 and given an education of a singer by the theatre. She never learned to read and write. In 1777–79, she was a member of the academy of Frederik Schwarz: Det dramatiske Selskab. Knud Lyne Rahbek was among her admirers.

She married the Norwegian actor Michael Rosing. Her private life and marriage has been taken as a good example of a "Virtuos" life, and is considered to have contributed to the somewhat better attitude in the public against actors, who were long looked down upon socially.

As an actress, she had her great breakthrough in the 1780s, when she began to play the part of mother: in the part of a "tender mother", she personificated the new ideal of femininity of the time, which was highlighted by the fact that she was often pregnant on stage. In these roles, she gained great popularity. She retired in 1823. She was the mother of the likewise famous Emilie Rosing.