Dancer Onstage c. 1877

Edgar Degas created “Dancer Onstage” to capture a moment in the vibrant world of late 19th-century Parisian ballet. The canvas is filled with representations of young women, poised in movement, expressions of the ballet world which, at the time, was a complex social space. Ballet dancers, often from working-class backgrounds, occupied a precarious position. Onstage, they were figures of grace and beauty, but offstage, they faced intense scrutiny. Degas was fascinated by the strenuous labor and discipline required of these dancers. His gaze, however, wasn't neutral; as a male artist from a privileged background, his perspective carried its own biases. Degas said: “It is very good to copy what one sees; but it is much better to draw what one only sees in one's memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory.” "Dancer Onstage" encourages us to reflect on the lives and labor of these young women, and the power dynamics inherent in how they were viewed and represented.