The Step with Battement 1879

Curator: Degas’ "The Step with Battement," created around 1879, gives us a glimpse into his enduring fascination with the ballet. Executed in pastel and drawing, this artwork captures a fleeting moment of rehearsal. What’s your initial reaction? Editor: The immediate feeling is lightness, an almost ethereal quality achieved through the medium. The dark backdrop really pushes the ballerinas forward, highlighting the movement of the dance, but there's also a melancholic stillness to it. Curator: That stillness is interesting, especially considering Degas's broader artistic project. We have to consider how representations of dancers, particularly women, were enmeshed within societal power structures of the time. These dancers were often from working-class backgrounds and, to a certain degree, vulnerable, their bodies and skills commodities for consumption by wealthier patrons. Editor: Absolutely. The tutu itself has become an iconic symbol, immediately signifying grace and discipline, but its origins and evolution tell us so much more. We see its association with Romanticism, ethereal beings, but also consider how it exposes the dancer’s body, contributing to that "commodity" aspect you mentioned. And even the colours Degas chooses – those fleeting reds contrasting with the off-whites – resonate with ideas about passion, life-force, against purity. Curator: Degas walked a tightrope, visually. His work can be critiqued through the lens of the male gaze, but he also challenged traditional art academies by finding beauty in the everyday and representing the female body in a way that wasn't always idealized. The skewed angles and asymmetrical compositions disrupted the typical portrait conventions of the period. Editor: True. And looking at this work in terms of those conventions... I keep coming back to the contrast. The symbol of the ballerina, almost weightless, yet grounded in the darkness. Is she rising up from this obscurity or forever tethered to it? It offers so many interpretive paths, making its message enduring. Curator: Indeed. "The Step with Battement" becomes a reminder that images carry complex histories, prompting ongoing conversations about the human condition and how we, as a society, represent and interpret each other. Editor: Absolutely. Degas encourages us to see how artistic interpretations constantly evolve as cultural frameworks change, challenging what we think we know about well-worn themes.