The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer
Edgar Degas, cast in 1922 from a mixed-media sculpture, modelled ca. 1879-80
Bronze, partly tinted, with cotton skirt and satin hair ribbon, on a wooden base
As a child and teenager I loved my ballet classes, and I’m still irresistibly attracted to every kind of dance - so this beautiful statue immediately appealed to me. I could just see myself in it, all those many years ago – including the day-dreamy look and posture.
The title, however, brought to mind a specific dancing photo because I was 14 years old at the time! Here, I’m dancing with my classmate Bettina for the entertainment at our school fete that year. We had learnt this dance the previous year in a group of six for a dance school recital, and luckily my classmate was my partner, so we were able to perform it again. It was much scarier doing it just with the two of us and for an audience we largely knew and who knew us well…
The dance revolved around the theme of the music used, which was a piece popular in Germany in the 1920s about a guy ogling a woman bathing in a lake, and he’s overwhelmed by being able to see her calves! Hence the outfit of the very early bathing costume and guy with moustache and monocle.
*****
Papers and numbers from Club Scrap "Musical Interlude" with sticker strips from "Music and Fine Arts"; plus prima flowers.
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