A pioneer of modern dance.  A preserved treasure of early film.

Ed and I are spending two weeks in Paris (don’t feel sorry for me) and Monday we went to the Pompidou museum, where this little treasure of dance and cinema struck me as particularly noteworthy.

Isadora Duncan is the early pioneer of modern dance.  And here she can be seen performing the Serpentine Dance.  Individually hand-painted cells mimic the changing colored lights on her swirling dress:

I looked on YouTube to see if this film snippet was widely available. Not by itself and not attributed to Duncan.  It is incorporated in someone’s video about a different dancer, Loie Fuller – the actual inventor of the Serpentine Dance.  [So did the curators of the Pompidou museum get it right when crediting  Isadora Duncan? Or is this particular film of Isadora emulating Loie Fuller?  The filmmaking is credited to the Lumiere brothers, who are known to have filmed Fuller… Returning to this blog post years after its first posting, I am inclined to believe this isn’t Duncan but is Fuller after all … and all these years later I can’t verify whether Duncan was credited in writing by the Pompidou or no one was and I just assumed it was Duncan… 12/6/2024)

Since this film is being shown in a temporary exhibit at the Pompidou in Paris, and I am temporarily in Paris, let me share a few views of Paris from atop the Pompidou.

Much more from the Pompidou, and Paris, and France to come. Consider this a prologue, an amuse-bouche, before the inevitable blog barrage.

The Pompidou boasts they have the best views of Paris.  That may be.  Their claim would be better supported if they cleaned their windows…

You recognize the Eiffel Tower of course.  Below, rising prominently: Montmartre.