The title of this short is misleading. The grace and agility of the little ballerinas filmed in a natural setting in spring are, thanks to the use of slow motion, turned into the object of a scrupulous scientific study of motion. Each shot corresponds either to a dance step or to a different dance. Each scene was shot first at a standard speed (18 fps) and then re-recorded at a very high speed. Was this the product of the first prototype of the Pathé camera able to shoot up to 120 frames per second, which went on sale in 1920? It is possible. The material used by the scientist Jean Comandon, for whom Pathé purpose built a studio in Vincennes, could have been the basis for the realisation of these brief scenes. Moreover, Comandon was assisted by Émile Labrély, an expert in high-speed cameras. But the present copy lacks the original intertitles and so the mystery surrounding the film remains.

Céline Ruivo