Plate Number 193. Dancing (fancy) 1887

Eadweard Muybridge created this photographic study of a woman dancing, sometime before his death in 1904. Emerging in a Victorian era deeply concerned with categorization and control, Muybridge’s motion studies reflect a desire to dissect and understand the complexities of human movement through the nascent technology of photography. Here, we see a woman caught in the act of “fancy” dancing. But what does it mean to capture her movement? In her white dress, she becomes an object of scientific inquiry, yet her dance also resists such rigid categorization. The rhythmic unfolding of her movements suggests a story, an emotional expression beyond the frame. Muybridge’s work invites us to consider the intersections of gender, science, and representation in the late 19th century, and how the illusion of movement can both reveal and conceal the dancer’s identity.