The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-03-20
SERPENTINE DANCER.
How Loie Fuller Works Behind the Scenes
Her Wonderful GOWNS.

When Lo1e Fuller appears Ior tne nrst
time the audience greets her with breath
less silence. The war has been very long,
and when she suddenly, like Topsy, just
grows right before their very eyes with
out coming FROM above, below or from
the sides, even the women, who make
up more than half of these nightly as
sem oages, are held tongue-tied. But
when she sinks away as suddenly and as
mysteriously as she came, everybody be-
gins to tell every body else just how 1t is
done, except a few people who have seen
o great deal during their lives and Will
ipgly admit that La Loie has ouwitted
them.
lhey see Miss Fuller from the point of
view of the spectator in front OF the foot
lights, and the impression received is
that she is a mysterious being doing mar
velous work, but the spectator behind the
scenes has another story to tell.
Once inside of her dressing room this
young woman rapidly dispels all idea OF
her of with her street clothes and on
with her stage attire the other night, she
prattled away at a great rate TO woman
who had called on her there.
"Why don't you ask me how i learned
to dance and when, instead OF how i
manage my draperie' and get my color
effects?n she said with sigh. "Nobody
has ever asked me that question, and /
don't believe that Ii is because they know
that 4 really am no dancer at all and
never dance. Why, i never learned TO
dance, SO there never was n when. i call
my dance the dance of an actress,
dramatic dance; and it's very strange to
me that no actress has ever tried TO copy
me, for 1 believe that anyone could sue
ceed." with a shrug OF the shoulders
that belied her words.
"To begin with, the people in front
think that l run out on the stage, use
my feet and arms little, and with the
aid of my color-effects and oraperies do
my dances with as much ease as one
would walk across the room. They don't
know. They see the completed picture,
and do not know the work that 4
have to do in teaching my corps of assis-
tants, and how hard my own part OF the
performance is. Take first rehearsal,
Tor instance, in new place. A skilled
electrician has TO go ahead to cut the
floor properly and TO lay the wires. When
this is done can go TO work. Sometimes
use ten lamps, sometimes 16, again 20,
and have used as manyas "a in "Salome,"
and il requires a skilled electrician to
run each one except the two principal
ones which my youngest brother always
manages for me.
"When Pm ready to begin, the first
thing that do without any lamps is TO
teach the men to find their coors and
follow me. Then they learn the signals,
and the gas man mas to be Taught when
to turn tEe gas off ana on, the stage man
ager when to ring the curtain up and
down, and the man at the back has to
learn just when to open the curtain and
to come in and help me off the stage af-
ter am supposed by the audience to have
disappeared into nothingpess. And all
this must be done so rapidly, that the
idea OF mystery must be ever prevalent In
4 hs. h lt., ind Tal hat al
from my work and Ii becomes tame.
"But, oh, dearie me There's my warn
ing hell. | must slip into my dress.
The maid held up black silk gauze
Mother Hubbard glittering with silver
spangles, and in less than two minutes
Loie, a everybody who has had ten min
utes' conversation with her calls her,
was ready to do her turn.
"This Is the costume that i wear in La
Mutt, and 1t is the only ornamented one
have. Ii isn't but 80 yards wide, and,
as you see, has. an aluminium wand reach
ing nearly to the bottom of the skirt
sewed in under each arm, and with these
and my lights i do the work. But we
must be of for the stage"
While somebody else is doing song
and dance in trout of the curtain force
OF men Is at work behind getting the set
ting for Loie's dances in readiness. Heavy
black chenille curtains are hung all
laid over the entire floor, except over a
glass plate which has been sunk into a
space about four feet by four cut in the
center OF the stage. Ten feet below this
place stands Burt Fuller guarding his
two lamps. Four stepladders OF different
heights are arranged in the left and
right wings nearest the audience, and on
each stands an electrician with his search
light in his hand. Revolving in front
of each of these lights is a round piece of
pasteboard, from II to 16 inches in di-
ameter, with border of gelatine disks of
different colors. Some OF these disks are
solid, and others show combination of
two, three, four or more colors, and the
men work them rapidly and harmon
iously. The two principal lights under
meath the stage are of great power, and
they alone produce more effects than all
of the.side lights put together.
In the dances, The Night aud The Sky,
the side lights are used almost exclusive
Iy, and even by watching them very
closely 1t is impossible To see how the
effect of the sun is produced one instant
and of the moon and stars the next. In
the fire dance the two principal lights are
used almost exclusively. The dress worn
in this dance is a. simple full slip, made
Of plain, white thin material, and shows
Just what 1t is when the dancer circles
around the stage waving her srms, as a
|lfrjg ghtened bat waves it's wings, when
the crrtain first goes up. But no sooner
does sbs rest en the glassIHlnte than the
hem seems to catch fire. Up the flames
creep, and those near enough fancy they
can see so'terr fled expression on the
-dancer's face. The more she fans the
gaukes to putr Il ,oot rthe higher the
flames leap and the redder they glow,
until finally she snatches a gauze scarf
from her neck and, with look OF h lrror,
beats at her draperies until the scarf, too,
catches the glowing color. ana In an in
slant nothing but inky blackness Is left
TO tell the tale.
"How do get the changeable effccts?"
said the dancer breathlessly, as she rushed
into her impromptu dressing room, made
OF scenery, at the back OF the stage.