Dance and Loïe Fuller

Canons of Dance in the Early 19th Century  

The early 19th century was marked by ballet and opera. Jean Béraud and Edgar Degas depicted their backstage.

This trend was accompanied by the creation of the Opéra Garnier during Haussmann's renovations between 1860 and 1875.

The physical requirements, body shape, and rhythm required to be an opera dancer were very strict. At the end of the 19th century, innovative choreographic figures such as Loïe Fuller emerged.

Turning an Art, Loïe Fuller 

Marie Louis Fuller, known as Loïe Fuller (1862-1928), an American dancer and choreographer, revolutionized the dance industry. She created her "Serpentine Dance" in 1892 in New York, which she patented in France through considerable effort. She also patented her scenographic and technical innovations. Loïe Fuller spent most of her career in Paris and performed regularly at the Folies-Bergère after spending her youth in Illinois, the United States, and discovering skirt dancing in London.

This artist broke the mold by asserting herself as a woman in an industrial, commercial, and chemical environment, but also by formalizing her lesbian relationship with Gab Sorère (1898-1928).

A compelling production 

She developed her costumes using a white silk dress and wooden rods extending from her arms. She freed the dancer from the traditional tutu and uncomfortable ballet slippers. She created choreographies and projected lighting effects onto her costume to bring it to life. She formed friendships with prominent artistic, scientific, and aristocratic figures such as Auguste Rodin, the Lumière brothers, Marie Curie, and Marie of Romania. She collaborated with Marie Curie on her "Ultraviolet Dance" and "Radium Dance." Her main inspiration was nature, whether it was fauna with her "Butterfly" or flora with her "Lily Dance."

The highlight of her career was the 1900 World's Fair, where she became the "Electricity Fairy." It was at this time that the dancer created her own theater and then founded her own dance school.

Loïe Fuller left behind filmed testimonies such as "Le Lys de la Vie," a film she made with her partner. 

She is also frequently depicted in the visual arts, and even sculpted on the caryatids of the balcony in Paris. The number of statuettes, posters and lamps bearing his image bear witness to his popularity and his status as a Parisian icon.

These objects, along with films and photographs, provide a record of the artist and his work. New artists can then draw inspiration from them. One example is Georgia O'Keeffe and her representations of flora.

La Loïe's Fantastic Ballets 

La Loïe founded her dance school in 1908, called the "Ballets Fantastiques." This "school," which was not an institution in the strict sense, welcomed young girls aged 6 to 15 (they were educated until the 1950s by Gabrielle Bloch "Gab Sorère"). Since the identities of the girls studying there are unknown, the exact influence of this school cannot be traced. Only photographs of the girls dancing or posing bear witness to them. Furthermore, Loïe Fuller took great care to keep her production methods and dance steps secret, even in her own films. One of the only names we have is Isadora Duncan.

Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877–1927) is one of the most famous dancers of the 20th century. She was a student of Loïe Fuller, in one of her troupes on the 1902 tour. Isadora then pursued her artistic independence. She developed a kind of archaeology of ancient dance using Greco-Roman ceramics. Despite their differences, Loïe Fuller and Isadora Duncan remained mutually admiring of each other's work. The young woman follows in her elder's footsteps with her innovative appearance and white cloth costumes, even though Isadora's costumes were intended to recreate the clothing worn in ancient Greece. Likewise, the two women were photographed dancing in front of iconic monuments.

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