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Loie Fuller and the Serpentine

- November 6, 2019 in choreography, Culture & History, dance, dancing, Drama, Loie Fuller, serpentine

With her "serpentine dance" — a show of swirling silk and rainbow lights — Loie Fuller became one of the most celebrated dancers of the fin de siècle. Rhonda K. Garelick explores Fuller’s unlikely stardom and how her beguiling art played out onstage the era's newly blurred boundaries between human and machine.

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The Dances of the Ages (1913)

- February 2, 2018 in banquet, dance, History, miniaturisation, special effects

Miniaturised dancers give a history of dance from the stone-age to the early 20th century, all upon a table-top.

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The Dances of the Ages (1913)

- February 2, 2018 in banquet, dance, History, miniaturisation, special effects

Miniaturised dancers give a history of dance from the stone-age to the early 20th century, all upon a table-top.

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The Dances of the Ages (1913)

- February 2, 2018 in banquet, dance, History, miniaturisation, special effects

Miniaturised dancers give a history of dance from the stone-age to the early 20th century, all upon a table-top.

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Engravings from a French Ice-Skating Manual (1813)

- August 20, 2013 in collections, dance, Digital Copy: Attribution, France, ice-skating, Images, Images-19th, Images-Engraving-Line, Images-People, sport, Underlying Work: PD Worldwide, Villanova Digital Library

Coloured engravings from France’s first ice-skating manual Le Vrai Patineur (The True Skater) written by Jean Garcin, a book praised in Honoré de Balzac’s Illusions Perdues. As well as the aide of eight engraved plates, four of which are featured here, the manual details many movements and poses, putting an emphasis on artistry and grace in contrast to the more straightforward technical approach usually practised in England. The book is considered to be one of the earliest works in any language devoted entirely to ice-skating. Villanova Digital Library Underlying Work: PD Worldwide | Digital Copy: Share Alike Download: Right click on image or see source for higher res versions HELP TO KEEP US AFLOAT The Public Domain Review is a not-for-profit project and we rely on support from our readers to stay afloat. If you like what we do then please do consider making a donation. We welcome all contributions, big or small - everything helps! Become a Patron Small angel : £3.00 GBP - monthly Medium sized hero : £5.00 GBP - monthly Large emperor : £10.00 GBP - monthly Vast deity : £20.00 GBP - monthly Make a one off Donation SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER Sign up […]

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Collection of Dances in Choreography Notation (1700)

- May 2, 2012 in choreography, dance, Images, Images-17th, Images-18th, Images-Engraving-Line, Images-Science, Images: Miscellaneous, Music, non-article, notation

Images extracted from the latter half of Choregraphie, a book first published in 1700 which details a dance notation system invented by Raoul-Auger Feuillet which revolutionised the dance world. The system indicates the placement of the feet and six basic leg movements: plié, releveé, sauté, cabriole, tombé, and glissé. Changes of body direction and numerous ornamentations of the legs and arms are also part of the system which is based on tract drawings that trace the pattern of the dance. Additionally, bar lines in the dance score correspond to bar lines in the music score. Signs written on the right or left hand side of the tract indicate the steps. Voltaire ranked the invention as one of the “achievements of his day” and Denis Diderot devoted ten pages to the subject in his Encylopdédie.

The rest of the book, including a beautifully illustrated explanation (in French) of the notation system, can be viewed here in our Texts collection.











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