20 seconds, b&w, silent.
Production : Edison Manufacturing Co.
Source : Viewable on the Library of Congress website here
Along with Buffalo Dance, this is one of two films of Sioux dancers that were shot in the Edison ‘Black Maria’ studio in New Jersey on 24 September 1894. These two films are generally regarded as offering the first moving images of the Native peoples of America. The producer-director was W. K-L. Dickson while the cameraman was William Heise.
The Sioux subjects were members of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show – a sign to this effect is just visible on the bottom right hand corner of the image. The show was about to depart on a European tour and it has been suggested that these films might therefore have been made for promotional purposes.
The Edison catalogue comments “One of the most peculiar customs of the Sioux Tribe is here shown, the dancers being genuine Sioux Indians, in full war paint and war costumes”.
However, the authenticity of the performance is questionable. It is highly unlikely that it had any meaningful connection to the millenarian Ghost Dance that developed among the Sioux after the killing of Chief Sitting Bull and 200 of his warriors in December 1890.
Text : Jordan 1992, pp. 26-29, 78-79.
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