In 1895 Loie Fuller’s ”Danse Serpentine” premiered in Paris. The entire Parisian art community gathered at the Folies Bergère to see Loie Fuller dance. In a cabaret theater she exposed her beauty in an enormous dress, twirled into it, and disappeared. She has been called Isadora Duncan and the originator of the modern dance movement: the first female dancer to liberate the female body.
At the Folies Bergère she performed symmetrical movements in her enormous dress and disappeared a just few seconds at a time. These seconds are the starting point of ”Visibly Invisible”.
In today’s society, women’s clothing is both social and political. Stripped of the exposing material, Dolven’s interpretation of ”Danse Serpentine” makes one think of the burka. The expression becomes the complete opposite of the intention of the dance. In the Western world the burka is controversial and perceived as a sort of prison for women. The similarity between Fuller’s dance and Dolven’s version of it is their common starting point, yet with a different expression.
«Visibly Invisible» challenges the audience’s access to the dancers. By hiding bodyparts and each other the choreography puts exposure into perspective, inspired by a dance performance over 100 years old.