The Little Waltzers

The Little Waltzers (1878) is the most crowded of the animation strips in Émile Reynaud’s early oeuvre. It features two young couples performing the waltz, moving in a circle at a three-step pace. The routine requires a specific rhythm, which would have been difficult to achieve using the Praxinoscope, given the technical impossibility of controlling rotational speed mid-revolution. As a result, the movement appears as a heretical performance of mechanical toys rather than a drawn reproduction of human action. It is indisputable that Reynaud consistently sought the limits of his invention; surprisingly, despite relying on tried-and-tested formulas, the failure here derives from the scope of ambition rather than execution.