My Fancy

Mae Rose Bawn ( Baker; 23 May 1878 – 24 February 1933), who used the stage name "My Fancy", was an American-born dancer who performed in British music halls billed as "The Queen of Sand Dancers".

Life and career She was born in St Louis, Missouri, and joined the Barnum & Bailey touring company at the age of eight. She trained as an acrobat, dancer, illusionist and trapeze artist, and worked with another girl as the Macumber Sisters. In 1894, she travelled to England, and made her debut under her own name at the London Pavilion in December 1894, before transferring to the Oxford Music Hall where she first appeared using the name "My Fancy" in March 1895. The reason for her unusual choice of stage name is not reported.

She was later credited with introducing sand dancing and buck-and-wing dancing to England. She also directed a number of music halls in London with her husband.

She died in Ramsgate, Kent, in 1933, aged 54.