The serpentine dance is a form of dance that was popular throughout the United States and Europe in the 1890s, becoming a staple of stage shows and early film.
Background
The Serpentine is an evolution of the
skirt dance A skirt dance is a form of dance popular in Europe and America, particularly in burlesque and vaudeville theater of the 1890s, in which women dancers would manipulate long, layered skirts with their arms to create a motion of flowing fabric, often i ...
, a form of
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. dance that had recently arrived in the United States from England. Skirt dancing was itself a reaction against "academic" forms of ballet, incorporating tamed-down versions of folk and popular dances like the
can-can.
The new dance was originated by
Loïe Fuller, who gave varying accounts of how she developed it.
By her own account, which is widely reported, having never danced professionally before, she accidentally discovered the effects of
stage light
Stage lighting instruments (lanterns, or luminaires in Europe) are used in stage lighting to illuminate theatrical productions, concerts, and other performances taking place in live performance venues. They are also used to light television s ...
cast from different angles on the gauze fabric of a costume she had hastily assembled for her performance in the play ''Quack M.D.'', and spontaneously developed the new form in response to the audience's enthusiastic reaction upon seeing the way her skirt appeared in the lights.
During the dance she held her long skirt in her hands, and waved it around, revealing her form inside.
In the words of the dance historian
Jack Anderson, "The costume for her ''Serpentine Dance'' consisted of hundreds of yards of China silk which she let billow around her while lighting effects suggested that it was catching fire and taking shapes reminiscent of flowers, clouds, birds, and butterflies."
Filmed versions
The Serpentine Dance was a frequent subject of early
motion pictures
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
, as it highlighted the new medium's ability to portray movement and light. Two particularly well-known versions were ''
Annabelle Serpentine Dance
''Annabelle Serpentine Dance'' is a short silent American film produced and distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company in 1895. It is one of several released by the studio the late 19th century. Each short film depicts the popular serpentine ...
'' (1894), a performance by Broadway dancer
Annabelle Whitford from
Edison Studios
Edison Studios was an American film production organization, owned by companies controlled by inventor and entrepreneur, Thomas Edison. The studio made close to 1,200 films, as part of the Edison Manufacturing Company (1894–1911) and then T ...
, and a
Lumière brothers
Lumière is French for ' light'.
Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to:
*Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People
*Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV
* Institut Lumière, a ...
film made in 1896.
[ (See als]
Martinez Historical Society Facebook page)
Many other filmmakers produced their own versions, distributing prints that had been
hand-tinted to evoke (though not quite reproduce) the appearance of colored light projection.
Serpentine Dance (1895) - yt.webm,
Annabelle Serpentine.ogv,
Serpentine-dance-by-lina-esbrard-1902-by-alice-guy.webm,
Sette danze serpentine 1897 1907.webm,
Georges Méliès The Pillar of Fire (1899).webm,
Lumière Brothers - The Serpentine Dance (c.1899).webm,
Création de la Serpentine (1908).webm,
Création de la serpentine France 1908 Segundo de Chomón (extrait version colorislée) - Copie.webm,
Loie Fuller the Serpentine Dance Girl.webm,
Loie-fuller- serpentine dans 1905-colored version.webm,
See also
*
Serpentinen Tanz
References
{{reflist
External links
''Annabelle Serpentine Dance, No. 2''on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
Butterfly dance & Serpentine Dance (Annabelle Moore)
Vaudeville
Auguste and Louis Lumière
History of film
Articles containing video clips
Burlesque
Dance in the United States