January 15: Today in Dance

Born Today: Loie Fuller

Dancer Loie Fuller (1862–1928) helped to expand the definition of dance in the late 1800s and elevated the vaudeville-based and often burlesque oriented skirt dancing to an art form. Fascinated with the play of light on moving silk, she designed a voluminous skirt manipulated by long rods. She left for Europe in 1892, gaining an enthusiastic following for her regular performances at the Folies Bergère in Paris. Unfortunately there is no film of Fuller dancing, however one can view the astonishing effects in the Serpentine Dance, filmed by the Lumiere brothers. French artists, scientists, and philosophers sought out her company and she is the holder of multiple patents for lighting advances and techniques she used to astonish her audiences. She also helped the young iconoclast Isadora Duncan (1877–1927) secure performance bookings overseas to introduce Europe to her version of free/improvisational dance.

Also Born Today: Ballet dancer/choreographer Jean Coralli (1779–1854), who collaborated with dancer Jules Perrot (1810–1892) to create the Romantic-era ballet Giselle in 1841. American ballet dancer John Kriza (1919–1975), who danced with ABT for 25 years and created roles in seminal ballets such as Fancy Free (1944) and Fall River Legend (1948), high-heeled tap dancer Tina Pratt (1935-), Ghanaian drummer and dancer Obo Addy (1936–2012), and Broadway choreographer Jerry Mitchell (1960-), best known for The Full Monty (2000), Legally Blonde (2007), and Kinky Boots (2013).

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Ballet Premiere: The Sleeping Beauty in 1890

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