In the dressing room ballet (Swan Lake) 1924

Curator: Zinaida Serebriakova’s "In the dressing room ballet (Swan Lake)", created in 1924 using oil paint, provides a rare glimpse into the lives of ballerinas. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: Oh, it’s bustling! So many women, caught in various states of dress. There’s an immediate sense of intimacy but also a kind of exhaustion, a collective holding of breath before a performance. It feels vulnerable, a bit frenetic. Curator: The vulnerability you note resonates deeply. Serebriakova, working within the Russian avant-garde movement, often focused on intimate scenes of women. Her work challenged traditional portrayals by presenting the female figure with remarkable candor and realism, during an era of political turbulence, when Socialist Realism would become the dominant aesthetic mode, prescribing and regulating artists and their practice, this image provides an incredibly honest narrative. Editor: Right. You can almost smell the powder and hear the hushed whispers. The woman in the foreground, bare shouldered, focused intensely on her makeup… she anchors the whole scene for me. Her gaze is captivating. And that intense blue cloth hanging there…such an interesting contrast against the muted tones. Curator: Indeed. Serebriakova’s subtle realism underscores the everyday labor inherent in performance, a space often idealized in art history. Through the group portrait she spotlights not just the grace onstage, but the sheer physicality and preparation demanded backstage, an image of shared space, where many bodies are pressed into one room. Note the diversity of bodies, each woman's identity contributing to the broader narrative. Editor: And isn’t there something inherently powerful in witnessing these women support each other, even if it’s just through shared experience? There’s a sisterhood here that speaks volumes. Maybe its a celebration of bodies but I keep seeing how exhausted the bodies are. Curator: Absolutely. It subverts the male gaze that often dominated ballet depictions. The sisterhood and exhaustion are palpable. It's a complex image – both beautiful and raw, refined and yet unadorned. It prompts reflection on the female body as subject, creator, and ultimately, a symbol of strength. Editor: Strength, yes! The dedication it takes, all that practice and preparation that we, as audience members, often don’t see. I am definitely ready to go back to the dressing rooms.