That's probably not Loie Fuller performing in this short actuality directed by Alice Guy, even though she was in Paris at the time. The Lumieres had shot a version of this the previous year and that was not Miss Fuller either. She had invented this free-form performance in a swirling costume and Edison had shot a movie of Annabella doing her version in 1895.
You could call it an early film genre. Put "Serpentine Dance" into the search field at the IMDb and you'll pick up ten titles, not including the one I'm discussing now, from 1895 through 1912. It's understandable. This is pretty much a pure study in human movement. What better subject for a motion picture? Still, as it does nothing that others of the genre don't also do, it's difficult to assign it more than an "OK".
You could call it an early film genre. Put "Serpentine Dance" into the search field at the IMDb and you'll pick up ten titles, not including the one I'm discussing now, from 1895 through 1912. It's understandable. This is pretty much a pure study in human movement. What better subject for a motion picture? Still, as it does nothing that others of the genre don't also do, it's difficult to assign it more than an "OK".
