Danse serpentine (Annabelle)
About Danse serpentine (Annabelle)
Annabelle Moore performs a serpentine dance in a locked-off shot. In the first passage she holds out a flowing skirt, wears butterfly wings and the wings of Mercury in her hair, and kicks, bows, and crosses the bare stage. In the second she holds sticks tied to a longer skirt so the cloth makes a different pattern.
Cast & crew
More about Danse serpentine (Annabelle)
William Heise produced it and is credited as camera operator. William K. L. Dickson shares the direction credit. Edison issued versions of Annabelle's dance on August 10, 1894, in February 1895, between April and August 1895, and on May 8, 1897.
Themes
Look
William Heise photographed the dance in a single locked-off view against a plain background.
Preservation
In 2024 the Library of Congress placed the film on the National Film Registry.
Notes
- Many release prints were hand-tinted.
- The Museum of Modern Art holds a 1895 print titled Serpentine Dance by Annabelle, object W10825.
- Paul Spehr notes that Annabelle danced at the 1893 Columbian Exposition and was on Broadway when Dickson filmed her in 1894.
Scenes
- Moore kicks and bows in the winged costume, then works a longer skirt with sticks held in both hands.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Serpentine Dance (1895) - yt.webm)
