Dancing Outdoors: Loïe Fuller Beyond the Stage

By Ola Maciejewska

Modern dance pioneer Loïe Fuller may be best known for her innovative use of electric lighting on stage, but she also created lesser-known works for outdoor spaces. CN D Magazine broadcasts an excerpt from Loïe Fuller’s Féérie des ballets fantastiques, a series of dances filmed outdoors, alongside this interview with choreographer Ola Maciejewska, who studies and reinterprets the work of her American predecessor.

American-born choreographer and dancer Loïe Fuller (1862-1926) developed remarkable technical devices for her performances, maintaining a laboratory in France, her adopted home, where she experimented with lighting effects. A pioneer in the use of electric lighting for the stage, her work drew inspiration from scientific discoveries. She was notably inspired by observing cells under a microscope, and by meeting Marie Skłodowska-Curie and learning of the pioneering researcher’s discovery of radium.

While Fuller remains best known for her work in traditional black box theaters, she also choreographed for outdoor settings, as demonstrated in these dance films created with her romantic partner and collaborator Gab Sorère. This alternation offers insight into the ongoing dialogue between indoor dance practices and efforts to liberate creative movement by bringing it into open spaces. 

Fuller’s work embodies the tensions between artificial and natural forces at the turn of the century. The imagery evokes a romantic, even fantastical vision of Nature, populated by elves and fairies. This is particularly evident in the opening sequence, filmed in pristine natural surroundings. The subsequent sequence unfolds in a more cultivated landscape, clearly shaped by human intervention—visible in the geometric pathways cutting through the woods. The female dancers move according to choreography that responds directly to the landscape itself. 

Audiences compared her movement to flowers and butterflies, while French poet and critic Stéphane Mallarmé described her as a “flame.” Her serpentine dance possesses a freedom that easily channels these non-human presences. When I began practicing this dance myself, I discovered it was fundamentally action-driven—designed simply to animate the costume. It reminded me of the task-based gestures prominent in 1960s postmodern dance. 

Loïe Fuller occupies a unique position in dance history on multiple levels: she remains a touchstone in cabaret, an icon for the queer community, and a symbol of first-wave feminism. Rather than paying homage, I'm interested in circulating her nuanced approach. How can this dance serve today as a medium for examining our relationship with what we commonly call Nature? What conception of Nature do these dances propose? My approach prioritizes research over reverence—investigating how activating historical references can become a method for developing one's own perspective on dance history. 

An interview by Belinda Mathieu

Belinda Mathieu is a journalist and dance critic who works for several publications, including Télérama, Mouvement, Trois Couleurs, Sceneweb, and La Terrasse. She holds degrees in French literature (Université Paris-Sorbonne), journalism (ISCPA) and a BA in dance from Université Paris 8. She is currently enrolled in their MA program and she continues to reflect on her practice and what is at stake for critical texts in the ecosystem of contemporary dance. She is also the editor of CN D magazine.

Valse Godard & Le Lys excerpts from La Féérie des ballets fantastiques de Loïe Fuller (Danse serpentine)
1934
29 minutes
Choreography: Loïe Fuller 
Director: George R. Busby
Artistic direction: Gab Sorère
Performance: la Compagnie des danseuses de Loïe Fuller
Production: André Morron

Choreographies. Dessiner, danser (XVIIe - XXIe siècles)
Curators: Pauline Chevalier and Amandine Royer
April 19 to September 25
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Besançon

The second body
Choreography: Ola Maciejewska
August 1 to 3 Impulstanz festival, Vienna
August 17 and 18 Holland Festival, Amsterdam

LOÏE FULLER: RESEARCH 
Choreography: Ola Maciejewska
August 17
Festival Lieux Mouvants, Lanrivan