‘Ruby Moon: A Parade of Vintage Elegance’

‘Ruby Moon: A Parade of Vintage Elegance’ was a collaboration of The Dandy Vagabonds: xocean dumas & eLm moonstone. We created this installation in 2015 to highlight pioneers of performance arts and circus arts who lived in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s.

This multidimensional installation consisted of advertisement-style posters, interactive vignettes, and sewn tapestries. We highlighted Maria Spelterini, a tight rope walker who crossed the Niagara Gorge 3 times in 3 days in 1876 We focused on Charmion, a strongwoman, disrober and trapeze artist who performed in one of the first-ever recorded films! Josephine Baker who was a dancer and comedienne who was also a humanitarian and activist in the 1920’s. Love Fuller was a dancer, inventor, fat-activist, choreographer and activist who created so much change in the 1920’s. We highlighted a Follies-style performance group called the ‘Fables at the Marigold’ who performed a dynamic cabaret called, ‘The Planet Number’ in 1927. We also envisioned ourselves, The Dandy Vagabonds, within the same time period as all of these pioneers of performance.