Untitled (three lines of ballet dancers practicing outside with teacher) c. 1950

Curator: This photograph, simply titled "Untitled (three lines of ballet dancers practicing outside with teacher)" is by Jack Gould. Editor: There is a strange, ghostly beauty to it. The inverted tones lend an ethereal quality, making the dancers look like spirits in a sun-drenched purgatory. Curator: Precisely, it's worth noting the lack of specific date. This absence allows us to consider the image not as a snapshot of a particular moment but more as a representation of ballet as an art form. Editor: The extended arms in second position evoke the cross, a symbol of sacrifice and suffering, but also of balance. Curator: Ballet, born of courtly display, evolved, of course, into an emblem of bourgeois accomplishment, especially for women, so that could be at play as well. Editor: Yes, and even with the teacher seemingly dressed in street clothes, there is a rigid formality. Ballet is a dance of precision that is echoed through the three perfect lines. Curator: Thinking of the context of the Harvard Art Museums, it makes you think about the socio-economic status of the students. Editor: I agree. It leaves you wondering if they knew that someday their dedication would be immortalized in an art museum.