A film in two parts, but involving some of the same dancers. Although the film is held within the Ananda Coomaraswamy Collection in the NAFC, the quality of both the stock and the shooting seems to be rather better than in the films that Ananda Coomaraswamy shot himself. This suggests that this may be a film that Coomaraswamy bought in, or alternatively, asked a professional cameraperson to shoot.
This film forms part of the Ananda Coomaraswamy Film Collection held at the NAFC. The maker of the film is not indicated in the film credits, but certain stylistic features – notably the introduction of a series of characters at the beginning of the film and the typewriter-based credits – are similar to those of a number of other films that Ananda Coomaraswamy himself made. This suggests that this may have been one of the films that he shot on his second trip to Asia accompanied by his wife, Stella, a professional dancer with a particular interest in Asian dance.
The film is very simple from a stylistic point of view. It begins with an introductory title explaining the origins of the Noh drama form in the fourteenth century as well as the origins of the Hagoromo legend. (Long preliminary explanatory titles are another typical feature of Coomaraswamy’s films). Thereafter the film merely records the play itself, shot from a distant position in front of the stage. The camerawork is no more than serviceable.
The theatrical performance is accompanied by music played by musicians who are also seen on the stage. The story of the play concerns a fisherman who finds an angel’s wings. After some initial reluctance, he restores them to her so that she may return to heaven. Before she departs, the angel – who appears to be a male dancer with whitened face – dances a very slow dance for the fisherman.
This films documents the pwe festival that takes place on the occasion of the dedication of a house or a monastery in Myanmar (formerly Burma). The dancers, who are young girls, are accompanied by musicians playing drums, xylophones and flutes.
Tacked onto the end of the performance in the film, there is another section, preceded by a title simply saying ‘Burma’, which consists of a series of poor quality shots of day-to-day life in Pagan, the old Burmese capital.
This film forms part of the Ananda Coomaraswamy Film Collection, but there is no introductory title specifically indicating that Ananda Coomaraswamy himself shot it, as was the case with a number of other films in the collection. However, there are certain stylistic similarities, not least the lengthy explanatory inter title at the beginning of the film, as well as the highly descriptive wide-angle camera framing. On the other hand, the technical quality of the image is rather better than in many of the earlier Coomaraswamy films.
If Coomaraswamy did make this film, he would have done so on his second Asian tour, so either he had improved his technique by then or perhaps he asked someone more experienced or skilled to shoot it for him.
This film forms part of the Ananda Coomaraswamy Film Collection at the NAFC. However, although there is an opening title, there is no specific preliminary title indicating that Coomaraswamy was responsible for the cinematography, as there is in a number of his other films.
This film documents the gathering of large crowds of Muslim pilgrims for a holi spring festival near the city of Mathura, in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. It includes a range of shots of people arriving, of ferris wheels operated manually, of a man playing a large drum, of dancing.
In contrast to the performances in Coomaraswamy’s formal dance films, this is an event that was clearly happening under its own impetus and the filmmaker was not able to control it. Perhaps for this reason, the camerawork is even less accomplished than in these other films.
Preliminary titles explain that the film will concern the training of young girls as dancers. It then offers some examples of dancing from Mathura in northern India and from Conjeevaran in southern India. The final example, which is very brief, is of Muslim Kashmiri girls dancing in a garden framed by a beautiful arch. The performances appear to have been put on specifically for the purposes of the film.
The film was ‘photographed’ by Ananda Coomaraswamy himself and the technical quality is uneven. However, some of the dance performances themselves are very impressive.
The giant Seng Hum – a character in ‘Cambodian Dramatic Dances: the Story of Prince Chet Chey’ (1920) – dir. Ananda Coomaraswamy
12:14 mins., b&w, silent.
Source : this film can be viewed here. It can also be seen as part of the Ananda Coomaraswamy Film Collection at the NAFC, where it is available as part of the film AS-89.2.1Cambodian Dramatic Dances. This also includes a dance based on the legend of Prea Somut and his elopement with Princess Butsumali, described here.
This film shows a performance by the Royal Cambodian Ballet, apparently in the grounds of the Angkor Wat temple complex, of the legend of Prince Chey Chet and the quarrel between his jealous wives. The performers are from a hereditary cast of dancers and as was customary, they are all prepubescent girls, even those performing the male roles. The troupe is relatively few in number, and there is only one accompanying xylophone player, indicating that this was probably put on specifically for Ananda Coomaraswamy.
The film begins with a lengthy inter title explaining the context of the film with the aid of a series of stills of some of the performers. A seccond, shorter inter title, apparently produced on a typewriter, reveals that ‘the photography’ was by Ananda Coomaraswamy himself. The film then follows the story of the legend with the aid of further inter titles produced on a typewriter. The quality of the cinematography is uneven, with many jump cuts, but the film still manages to capture the grace of the dancers and the general flavour of the story.
This is one of a series of films that Coomaraswamy made in the course of a trip around various Asian countries accompanied by his then lover and later wife, the dancer Stella Bloch, an American of Polish-Jewish heritage.
The Cambodian Royal Ballet corps continued to perform until it was dispersed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, and many of the performers perished during the ensuing genocide. But with the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, the corps was recreated and in 2003 the ballet form was added to the UNESCO list of examples of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. For further details see here
Princess Butsumali and Prea Somut resolve to elope – ‘Cambodian Dramatic Dances’ (1920) – dir. Ananda Coomaraswamy
9 mins., b&w, silent.
Source : this film can be viewed on the web here. It can also be seen as part of the Ananda Coomaraswamy Film Collection at the NAFC, where it is available as part of the film AS-89.2.1Cambodian Dramatic Dances, which also includes a dance based on the legend of Prince Chey Chet and the jealousy between his two wives, described here.
This film shows a performance by the Royal Cambodian Ballet – evidently in the grounds of the ancient palace of Angkor Wat – of the legend of the elopement of Prea Somut with the Princess Bustumali. The performers are from a hereditary cast of dancers and as was customary, they are all prepubescent girls, even those performing the male roles. This appears to be an informal performance put on at the request of the filmmaker, Ananda Coomoraswamy : the dancers are relatively few in number and there is only one player of an accompanying xylophone.
The film was shot by Coomaraswamy himself, as the opening titles reveal. Though the resolution of the image is a little murky, the technical quality is reasonable for the period, with a variety of shots. It follows the story of the legend with the aid of inter titles which have clearly been produced on a typewriter.
This is one of a series of films that Coomaraswamy made in the course of a trip around various Asian countries accompanied by his then lover and later wife, the dancer Stella Bloch, an American of Polish-Jewish heritage.
The Cambodian Royal Ballet corps continued to perform until it was dispersed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, and many of the performers perished during the ensuing genocide. But with the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, the corps was recreated and in 2003 the ballet form was added to the UNESCO list of examples of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. For further details see here.
Ananda Coomaraswamy in 1916, shortly before he started making his films about Asian dance
Ananda Coomaraswamy’s contribution to the history of ethnographic film consists of a series of films about Asian dance that he shot himself in the 1920s. These films now form part of the Ananda Coomaraswamy Film Collection housed by the NAFC in Washington.
Of mixed Anglo-Tamil descent and brought up in England, Ananda Coomaraswamy trained initially as a geologist at University College, London. But while carrying out doctoral fieldwork in Sri Lanka in 1902-06, he became interested in Sinhalese art and returned to London committed to the idea of educating Western audiences about the art of the Indian sub-continent. This led eventually to his appointment to a curatorial position as Keeper of Indian Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA, in 1917. Thereafter he would become an internationally renowned writer, not only on Indian art, but more generally on the philosophy of art, metaphysics and religion.
Stella Bloch in Asian dance costume
Shortly after he arrived in the US, Coomaraswamy came to know Stella Bloch, a dancer of Jewish-Polish ancestry, who was associated with Isadora Duncan’s dance troupe in New York, and who also had a particular interest in Asian dance. They married in 1922.
Even before then, in the autumn of 1920, Coomaraswamy and Bloch travelled extensively through Asia, studying local dance traditions in India, Sri Lanka, Java, Bali, Cambodia, China and Japan. It was probably during this trip that Coomaraswamy began to make his films about Asian dance. They travelled through Asia again in 1924 and it seems that Coomaraswamy shot further films during this second trip.
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