The Art of the Butterfly Dance in the early film

The first hand-coloured early film produced by William K.L. Dickson and Thomas Alva Edison was in 1895, the titled is "Annabelle Serpentine Dance", the subject is the choreography of the serpentine dance performed by the famous American dancer, Annabelle Moore. In 1897, two years later, August e Louise Lumière also produced the early film dedicated to the Dance Serpentine, with the same subject, the film is No. 765 in their catalogue and an unknown camera operator shot, the scene in Italy. Thought this film the Lumière Brothers experimented the techniques of the film colourization: the colour was applied subsequently using the paintbrush technique. These early films, and many others that arise in this contribution, are visual perceptually impressive, thanks to the choreographic movements of the dancers, constantly in action, twirling the long sleeves of her silk dress, while the colourization endows a surprizing gradient effect on her every movement.