Imperial Japanese Dance

Imperial Japanese Dance (1894)

This early Edison short is a good example of them bringing culture into their small studio, filming it and releasing it to the public. The film runs just over twenty-seconds and features three women dancing the title dance. If you've seen enough of these early Edison films then you know it's rather common for the studio to simply bring various acts back to their Black Maria studio and film them. Quite often you got one person doing their act or dance and that's pretty much what separates this film because three people are in the studio doing their thing. I believe this is one of the first times I've seen this happen as the studio is usually so small that not even one person could do a dance. I guess that makes these three women all the more impressive since they were able to handle the small setting.

Japan had been closed to the rest of the world until about 1860, when it opened up again to foreign trade and technology. Also traditional Japanese culture was exported around the world to such places as the fair at Knightsbridge, London, which inspired WS Gilbert to write one of his greatest operettas, The Mikado in 1885. Although visiting Japanese dancers may have been exotic curiosity to Edison, for us 109 years later it is a window to a distant world. The costumes are probably more ornate than typical "Mikado" costumes, and the dancing is better than is seen on most amateur stages, with the two outer ladies perfectly together. There is an awkward moment (0:24) when the middle lady gets caught in the long twirling ribbon of the lady on the left, but they extricate themselves so deftly that it looks like an edit on first viewing.

Technically the contrast and exposure are very good, although (I imagine) it is the rough film transport that gives the film a hand-held feel. Go to the Library of Congress and have a look!

Said the middle Sarache Sister at the very end of this brief Edison short. I have no idea if these sisters were triplets, but they sure look alike here. Then again, maybe that's just because I haven't seen very many Japanese folks. As it is, the dance they performed in this film (called the "Mikado Dance") is pretty interesting. The two sisters at the sides wave their banners around, while the one in the middle twirls a fan. The routine is repetitive but fun and has contains of movement which makes it a good subject for a film. As was probably the case with all the dance films, Edison chose this particular subject no doubt because of the movement involved.

Also, no one appears to know what the names of these sisters were (which would explain why IMDb groups them all into one name page). Even if this is the case, they still appear to be experienced in the dance and were, to my guess, either vaudeville sensations who performed for stage or merely just typical Japanese folk demonstrating a well-known dance. Again, it's clear Edison was trying to make money off having dancers and athletes performing in his studio to promote their acts through his new medium. The camera is rather shakey when compared to Dickson's and Heise's other work, but the film is still viewable and remains interesting for film historians.

This is one of many examples of one of the most popular of the earliest movie genres. Many of the Edison Kinetoscope films featured dancing acts that were popular at the time. (Other very popular subjects included vaudeville acts and boxing exhibitions.) For the most part, this one shares many of the features common to the other early movies of its kind.

The movie features a three-woman dancing act that performs an "Imperial Japanese Dance" that was supposed to have been based on "The Mikado". As with the movies of other dancers like Annabelle (Whitford) Moore and Amy Muller, this was filmed inside Edison's 'Black Maria' studio. These dancers also had distinctive costumes, which included streamers and fans.

The main difference is that most other dancing acts in the early Edison features starred a solo dancer, who had the stage to herself, whereas these three are limited in their movements by the need for all of them to stay within the camera frame. Another drawback of the studio setting is that (at least in the non-tinted version) the black (or dark) streamers are often barely visible against the black background, so that the footage pretty much loses whatever effect the contrasting colors of the streamers were supposed to have had.

The material itself is actually rather bland, but these consequences of the Edison studio's limitations might make this somewhat interesting as an example of some of the less obvious decisions and difficulties involved in early film-making.

William Heise and W.K.L. Dickson film three female Japanese dancers. They do subtle dance moves that involve some twirling and fan waving. The ladies are dressed in formal Japanese get ups.

Not much goes on here not recommend more than any of the other ninety-plus shorts produced by Edison's studio in 1894. Basically any vaudeville or stage performer from New York was able to get a chance in front of the camera. Edison and company were in need for shorts to fill their Kinetoscope business. Heise and Dickson just set up the camera and let the performers to their thing. Later in the year they would move to filming actual scenes.