Photographic postcard of Adeline Genée in the first version of her costume as the Dryad, ca.1908.

Danish-born Adeline Genée (1878-1970) became ballerina at the Empire Theatre in London from 1897 to 1909. She subsequently toured internationally and established her own company which danced at the London Coliseum. She married an Englishman, Frank Isitt, in 1910 and was the first dancer to be appointed DBE in 1950.

The Dryad, composed by Dora Bright, is the story of a nymph trapped in an oak tree and only released once every ten years. She falls in love with a shepherd and is in despair when, a decade later, she finds he has been unfaithful. It was typical of the small-scale ballets for dancer and vocalist which were popular in the early 20th century. It was not, as Cyril Beaumont claimed, 'a typical Empire Ballet'.

The Dryad received its first performance at Babington, Somerset, where Bright lived and the title role was performed by Barbara Jekyll. Bright then offered the idea to Adeline Genée who presented it at a charity matinee at the Playhouse, London, on 25 March 1907. Genée danced and mimed the title role, with Gordon Cleather singing the part of the faithless shepherd, and together they went on to perform it in many theatres, including the Empire for two weeks in 1908 and at both the Carnegie Hall, New York, and the Royal Opera House, London, in 1911. Genée danced it at the Savoy in 1916, by which time her costume had been simplified. In the photograph she holds a branch with oak leaves which helps to identify the character. In Greek mythology a dryad was a nymph of an oak tree.