Hand of dancer, Java, Indonesia 1958

Dorothea Lange shot this photograph, 'Hand of dancer, Java, Indonesia,' with her camera, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. I love how Lange isolates this single gesture, a hand poised mid-dance. I imagine Lange watching the dancer, trying to capture that perfect moment of tension and release, the hand telling its own story. The composition is so simple. It makes you wonder, what did it feel like to be there in that moment? The light is soft, almost dreamlike. I think about other artists who were interested in the body, like Rodin with his sculptures, trying to catch a fleeting emotion or movement. Lange’s photograph and Rodin's sculptures make me think about the way artists throughout time keep returning to the body, always searching, always learning.