There you have to the life this Loie Fuller, in whom our Roger Marx has hailed the chastest and most expressive of dancers, beautifully inspired, who reanimates within herself and restores to us the lost wonders of Greek mimicry, the art of those motions, at once voluptuous and mystical, which interpret the phenomena of nature and the life history of living beings.

ANATOLE FRANCE

CONTENTS

PAGE
I.[MY STAGE ENTRANCE][15]
II.[MY APPEARANCE ON A REAL STAGE AT TWO YEARS AND A HALF][20]
III.[HOW I CREATED THE SERPENTINE DANCE][25]
IV.[HOW I CAME TO PARIS][43]
V.[MY APPEARANCE AT THE FOLIES-BERGÈRE][51]
VI.[LIGHT AND THE DANCE][62]
VII.[A JOURNEY TO RUSSIA—A BROKEN CONTRACT][73]
VIII.[SARAH BERNHARDT—THE DREAM AND THE REALITY][84]
IX.[ALEXANDRE DUMAS][101]
X.[M. AND MME. CAMILLE FLAMMARION][111]
XI.[A VISIT AT RODIN’S][122]
XII.[M. GROULT’S COLLECTION][128]
XIII.[MY DANCES AND THE CHILDREN][137]
XIV.[PRINCESS MARIE][151]
XV.[SEVERAL SOVEREIGNS][165]
XVI.[OTHER MONARCHS][184]
XVII.[SOME PHILOSOPHERS][192]
XVIII.[HOW I DISCOVERED HANAKO][207]
XIX.[SARDOU AND KAWAKAMI][217]
XX.[AN EXPERIENCE][223]
XXI.[AMERICAN AFFAIRS][232]
XXII.[GAB][250]
XXIII.[THE VALUE OF A NAME][267]
XXIV.[HOW M. CLARETIE INDUCED ME TO WRITE THIS BOOK][273]

ILLUSTRATIONS

[LOIE FULLER][Frontispiece]
PAGE
[LOIE FULLER IN HER ORIGINAL SERPENTINE DRESS][29]
[THE DANCE OF FLAME][59]
[LOIE FULLER AND HER MOTHER][75]
[THE DANCE OF THE LILY][93]
[LOIE FULLER AND ALEXANDRE DUMAS][107]
[M. AND MME. CAMILLE FLAMMARION, AT JUVISY][115]
[THE DANCE OF FLOWERS][139]
[THE DANCE OF THE BUTTERFLY][143]
[DANCE TO GOUNOD’S “AVE MARIA”][159]
[THE DANCE OF THE BUTTERFLY][181]
[LOIE FULLER IN HER GARDEN AT PASSY][193]
[LOIE FULLER’S ROOM AT THE FOLIES-BERGÈRE][211]
[GAB][253]
[THE DANCE OF FIRE][261]
[THE DANCE OF FEAR FROM “SALOME”][283]

FIFTEEN YEARS OF A
DANCER’S LIFE

I
MY STAGE ENTRANCE

“WHOSE baby is this?”

“I don’t know.”