1895-1908 Loie Fuller's Serpentine Dance (highlights from the greatest movie pioneers' films)
Almost every important movie pioneer seems to have chosen the Serpentine Dance as an interesting subject for one or more films: the Skladanowsky brothers (1895), Dickson for Edison Manifacturing Company (1895+1896+1897), Lumiere brothers (1896), Demeny (1897), Alice Guy (1899+1900+1902), Melies (1899), G.A. Smith (1902), De Chomon (1908) and many others. Unfortunately none of the surviving films seem to contain a performance by the original dancer / choreographer Loie Fuller (despite some of them carrying her name in the title or otherwise crediting her as the dancer). Loie Fuller was a pioneer of modern dance and of theatrical lightning effects. She developed this dance in 1891 and combined her choreography with silk costumes illuminated by multi-colored lighting of her own design. In several of the Serpentine Dance movies her special colored lighting effects have been translated into fascinating hand-colored effects. Fuller also had a successful Fire Dance of which elements are often incorporated in Serpentine Dance performances, which were also often refrred to as Butterfly Dance.
No comments:
Post a Comment