International Women Day, 2013

Photographic portrait of Loie Fuller, taken by Reutlinger, late nineteenth century.

Loie Fuller Ⓒ Victoria and Albert Museum 

Women Pioneers of Dance on Screen 

Dr Lila Moore

International Women's Day is annually held on March 8 to celebrate women's achievements throughout history and across nations. It is, therefore, an opportunity to recall that the art form of dance on screen, (also termed as Chore-Cinema, Cine-Dance, and Screen-Dance) is based on the aesthetic visions of extraordinary women pioneers of film, dance and hybrid performance. Dance on screen is the offshoot of the creative powers of female artists from the dawn of modern art, dance and film: Loie Fuller (1862- 1928), Valentine de Saint-Point (1875-1953), Germain Dulac (1882 –1942) and Maya Deren (1917- 1961). Despite the passage of time, these women not only impress our aesthetic sensibilities through their works of art, but encourage us to rethink our identity and place in the world as women in the 21^st century. 

Loie Fuller, Valentine de Saint-Point, Germaine Dulac and Maya Deren presented the female body in formal integration with the technological advancements of their time such as artificial lighting, still photography, visual projection and film. They were aware of the emergence of the modern world; and consciously placed the feminine body and psyche at the centre of this world. Moreover, Loie Fuller, Valentine de Saint-Point,and Maya Deren utilised their (personal) physical body and aspects of their psyche as the central theme of their works in dance, performance and film.

These female artists also incorporated a form of spiritualised, holistic and goddess-inspired aesthetic awareness in their performances and films. For example, Loie Fuller's aesthetics were interlinked with ideas and phenomena prevalent in modern spiritualism such as hypnosis, trance and spirit photography. 

Valentine de Saint-Point's Metachory dances induced a subtle interplay of visceral and metaphysical/mystical ideas issuing from oriental mysticism. She described the structure of her 'Metachory' dances in metaphysical terms, thus, relating to the idea or concept as the soul of the work, the dance as the skeleton, and the music as flesh.

Maya Deren described her films as 'metaphysical films' in her 'Statement of Principles', and developed a ritualistic film form informed by her explorations of ritualistic dances, goddess inspired, and informed by Haitian Voduoun.

The ideas and images created by these mothers of dance on screen still ignite our imagination, stimulate us intellectually and enchants our awareness.

The following is a quote from the PhD thesis on Dance on Screen (2001):

CHAPTER 2: DANCE ON SCREEN IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN ART AND
 AVANT-GARDE FILM 

"The performances of the Futurist artist Valentine de Saint-Point already embodied the notion of dance within a hybrid context. Her performance on 20, December  1913 at Comédie des Champs-Elysées in Paris is described as:

"…a curious dance – poems of love, poems of war, poems of atmosphere – in front of large cloth sheets onto which colored lights were projected. Mathematical equations were projected onto other walls, while a background of music by Satie and Debussy accompanied her elaborate dance" (Ibid., p. 18).

"The description of the Futurist dance by Valentine de Saint-Point exemplifies the beginning of a process involving art forms in interaction and synthesis. The performance transformed into a hybrid text. The walls of the stage became screens, and the dancer interacted with the projected imagery as she moved in the space. The audience was introduced to a multidimensional experience needing to interact with live dance, projected imagery, disembodied voice reciting poetry, and live music. Dancing in front of projection screens with images as part of the visual impact and design of the dance performance is a common phenomenon nowadays. However, in 1913, this type of performance, inspired by the spirit and ideology of Futurism, was an innovative breakthrough as a combined arts experience. Its formal structure and visual concept embodied the seminal concepts of contemporary performative texts. Moreover, it was created and performed by a woman artist operating within a male dominated avant-garde movement". 

Recent Developments: 

Plastic Ballad (2011) is a contemporary short film by Mara Tasker, which recalls early experiments with the female body and its interaction with skirts and veils, motion, light, colour, texture, and photographic technology. These experiments and interests are presented in this film in an up-to-date framework. 

Plastic Ballad Final Cut from Mara Tasker on Vimeo.

This work by Dr Lila Moore is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.