Loie Fuller's contribution to the dance, and to stage performance in general, is now largely forgotten. In the first decade of the century, however, she was at the apex of her influence; "La Loie" was the darling of Parisian society and a much-admired entertainer of European royalty.

Fuller (1862-1928) began her stage career as a child in Illinois. She performed on the temperance-lecture circuit and in vaudeville until the 1890s when, she recalled, she found a filmy, almost translucent silk skirt in a costume box. As she performed in the costume, lifting its voluminous folds about her body, the audience first whispered, then shouted, its various interpretations: "A butterfly!" "An orchid!" "A spirit!" Loie abandoned acting for dance. Her programs of simple motions and novel lighting effects became nationally famous, and by the turn of the century she was touring Europe.

Experimentation...