Loie Fuller Media

Who is Loie Fuller?

She was born Marie Louise Fuller in the outskirts of Chicago in 1862. Loie began her career as a child actress but later on in her life she traveled with a melodrama called "Quack MD" as a burlesque dancer as well as a skirt dancer. She was fascinated by the flow of the silk skirt she danced with and while she was in a performance of Arabian Nights she started to think more about how the lighting would look like against the flowing skirt, and that's where her inspiration is believed to have developed for her career. Of her dances, the most famous is Serpentine Dance was created in 1891 and later a movie was made by the frontier men for film, Louis and Auguste Lumier. In the 1890s she had moved to Paris to develop a career as a the first American modern dancer to travel and perform in Europe. She made many connections with various artists and political icons such as symbolist movement's Stephane Mallarme, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Queen Marie of Romania. With Loie's political connections she was able to help Romania recieve a loan from the United States during World War I. Her last performance was Shadow Ballet which was performed in London in 1927. Loie later died January 1, 1928 at the age of 65. She is still an inspiration to Jody Sperling who's company 'Time Lapse Dance' is based on Loie's philosophy of natural dance and lighting concepts. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIrnFrDXjlk