THE BALLET-MASTER’S DREAM (1903)
aka Le reve du maitre de ballet
Article 4034 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-17-2012
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Georges Melies, Zizi Papillon
Country: France
What it is: Trick short

A ballet master, frustrated in his attempts to work out a dance step, retires for the night. He is assailed by a dream of a ballerina performing in the netherworld.

Here’s another of Melies’s more minor entries. It’s pretty light on the special effects sequences, and seems more interested in the dance sequences themselves. Melies plays the ballet-master, and he shows that he himself is pretty light on his feet on occasion. I suppose that’s not really surprising; given the numerous occasions dancing girls appear in his shorts, he must have had an affection for the form.