ABSTRACT
This chapter interrogates the space between the look and the gaze—that is to say, what is visible as well as what is invisible in the history of screendance as a field. This space is also a major theme in feminist cinema theory and history: the idea of the male gaze has been an important tool for decades and launched many rich conversations. It remains a necessary launching pad for critical reflections on the roots of screendance practice, history, and theory. Taking Alice Guy, the world’s first female filmmaker, as a historical reference, the question of what is visible becomes urgent: understanding the many ways that this “women film pioneer” was repeatedly overlooked is crucial in developing feminist perspectives on screendance that remain relevant to the contemporary moment and its challenges. Diving into Alice Guy’s story, Priscilla Guy proposes to interrogate both her professional trajectory and the aesthetics of her body of work, in order to leave neither behind.
