19th century movie in color

Each frame of this 19th century film by the Lumière brothers was hand-colored to create an early color moving picture. The color-shifting effect of the dress looks quite modern.

The dancing was inspired by Loie Fuller, a modern dance pioneer.

Paris is Burning

Smashing Telly found the entirety of a documentary called Paris is Burning on YouTube.

This is a documentary about vogueing, and the extremely refined and detailed aesthetic sensibilities it reflects, shot in New York City around Chelsea, the Meatpacking District, and Harlem in the mid- to late-80s. The city has changed in dramatic ways since then, to say the least. The characters of the film are complete outsiders with, at the same time, a deep understanding of the world they are outside of.

Check out a recent example of vogue dancing.

Eternal Moonwalk

This is pretty awesome: a bunch of videos strung together to make it seem like one long moonwalk. In tribute to Michael Jackson, of course. What's amazing is that for the 4-5 minutes I watched, there was not a single decent moonwalk...just people shuffling backwards. (via vsl)

Update: Matt Zoller Seitz analyzes Eternal Moonwalk and finds much to love about it.

Eternal Moonwalk is also an incidental tutorial in the basic properties of cinema. It returns motion pictures to their origin point, when the medium's core appeal was the chance to watch strangers performing, their bodies moving from Point A to Point B, their familiar or amusing actions serving as an emotional connection point, a reminder that we're members of the same species inhabiting the same small world.

Gene Kelly tap dancing on roller skates

Video clip from It's Always Fair Weather of Gene Kelly dancing with roller skates on.

The good stuff starts around 2:00. As David says, "putting Kelly on roller skates is like adding polish to wax".

Old school breakdancing

Soviet Army dance ensemble + Run DMC = the invention of breakdancing in the mid-1900s.

Here's the same thing mixed with Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice. Reminds me of the previously featured but still awesome video of Al Minns and Leon James doing the Charleston to Daft Punk. Here are two more videos that track the origins and breakdancing and hip-hop dancing in a slightly more formal manner: one, two.

Intimidating cultural appropriation

The high school football team in Euless, TX (population 52,900) starts their games by performing the haka, a chanting dance used to intimidating effect by New Zealand's All Blacks rugby team. What's odd/interesting about this is that the Maori chant was appropriated by the team's contingent of Tongan players -- whose parents moved to the town to work at DFW airport -- and has led to a greater sense of acceptance of the Tongans into the larger community. How's that for multiculturalism?

This video makes me irrationally happy...I

This video makes me irrationally happy...I watched it four times in a row just now.

It was the freshest move I've ever seen, like he was floating on air.

And yeah, that's Kanye West's Vimeo account. His blog is entertaining as well; a recent favorite post is YOU CAN'T MAKE ME STOP POSTING YAGHTS!!!

Update: Vimeo erased the video because it was not original content so I pointed to one on YouTube. They also erased all but one video on Kanye's account...I guess they were all videos by other people.

Legendary mime Marcel Marceau died Saturday at

Legendary mime Marcel Marceau died Saturday at age 84.

Michael Jackson borrowed his famous "moonwalk" from a Marceau sketch, "Walking Against the Wind."

I tried to find video of that sketch but came up empty.

Update: Here's some video of Marceau teaching wind walking to a class...and miming with Michael Jackson. (thx, andy & mike)

Update: Here's a better video of Marceau doing his wind walk, from a Mel Brooks movie no less. (thx, manuel)

Denis Darzacq's photos of dancers, caught in mid-flight. (thx, david)

Denis Darzacq's photos of dancers, caught in mid-flight. (thx, david)

Video of some fellows doing The Charleston

Video of some fellows doing The Charleston to Around the World by Daft Punk. (via buzzfeed)

Update: The two fellows are Al Minns and Leon James...here's the original video. In the final 30 seconds or so of the video, they almost look like they're poppin' and lockin'. (thx, paul)

Doin' the robot has never looked so

Doin' the robot has never looked so good in this video for Uniqlo. (via wider angle)

BIRD FLU DANCE WATCH! A bird flu "

BIRD FLU DANCE WATCH! A bird flu "riddim" from January 2006 from a student in South Africa (originally from Botswana). Not sure how this ties into either version of the flu dance (a third strain?).

Video of a man performing the history of dance. Awesome.

Video of a man performing the history of dance. Awesome.

Researching quantum honeybees

Researching quantum honeybees. Can bees detect quantum fields and use them to find food?

Trailer for Rize, David LaChapelle's film about krump dancing

Trailer for Rize, David LaChapelle's film about krump dancing.

New iPod ad features some poppin' and lockin'

New iPod ad features some poppin' and lockin'. And I'm pretty sure David "Elsewhere" Bernal is in there somewhere as well. Finally!