Category: dancer, Tänzerin, danseuse, danzatrice, bailarina

Grit Hegesa by Atelier Binder

Atelier Binder ~ Grit Hegesa sitting cross-legged with cigarette holder. Die Dame 24/1921 | src getty images
Atelier Binder ~ Grit Hegesa modelling dress with wide sleeves and hat, 1921 | src getty images
Alexander Binder ~ Grit Hegesa. Vintage postcard 452/2 | src alamy
Atelier Binder ~ Portrait of the dancer Grit Hegesa, 1921 | src getty images
Atelier Binder ~ Grit Hegesa Schneidersitz mit Zigarettenspitze. In: Die Dame 24/1921 | src getty images

Toni Freeden by Frieda Riess

Frieda Gertrud Riess (1890-1954) ~ German dancer Toni Freeden in a dancing pose, 1927 | src getty images
Atelier Riess ~ Toni Freeden-Belling [in Tanzpose]. Der Querschnitt, B.7, H.5, Mai 1927

Grit Hegesa by Mahrenholz

Rolf Mahrenholz ~ Portrait of the dancer [and actress] Grit Hegesa. Published in Die Dame 1/1925 | src getty images
Rolf Mahrenholz ~ Die Tänzerin Grit Hegesa, Porträt. In: Die Dame 1/1925. Aufnahme: Rolf Mahrenholz | src getty images

The White Cat · Ballets Russes

‘The White Cat’ in ‘Le Mariage d’Aurore’ (Aurora’s Wedding), Covent Garden Russian Ballet, 1938 (detail from original photograph) © Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne

In 1936 Australian audiences witnessed firsthand the spectacle of the Ballets Russes, with the arrival of the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet. This company, lead by Colonel Wassily de Basil, was one of a number of Ballets Russes companies that were formed in the wake of the dissolution of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes following his death in 1929. This first tour concluded in 1937 and was followed by two more tours by de Basil’s Ballets Russes companies, the Covent Garden Russian Ballet in 1938-1939 and Original Ballet Russe in 1939-1940.

‘The White Cat’ in ‘Le Mariage d’Aurore’ (Aurora’s Wedding), Covent Garden Russian Ballet, 1938 © Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne
‘The White Cat’ in ‘Le Mariage d’Aurore’, Covent Garden Russian Ballet, 1938 © Australian Performing Arts Collection
Image kindly provided by Arts Centre Melbourne | Wurundjeri Country

Bill Henson · Untitled 1974

Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 78, 1974 | src Tolarno Galleries
Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 72, 1974 | Art gallery of NSW
Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 73, 1974 | src Tolarno Galleries
Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 66, 1974 | src Art gallery of New South Wales
Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 65, 1974 | src Tolarno Galleries
Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 67, 1974 | src Tolarno Galleries

‘Untitled 1974’ was one of Bill Henson’s earliest photographic series. When photographing the ballerinas, he found himself fascinated by faces, ‘lost to the world, absorbed in the dance. So I photographed their faces rather than their bodies. I was drawn to the spirit of some person in a space.’ Bill Henson 2004

Sequences are an important part of Henson’s work, creating a dialogue between the images and enhancing both the meaning and effect. An image that is hard to discern singularly becomes more readable as part of a sequence, while at the same time the whole sequence seems to become more ethereal and requiring of an emotional response. AG of NSW

Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 54, 1974
Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 55, 1974
Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 54, 1974 | src Tolarno Galleries
Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 52, 1974 | src Tolarno Galleries
Bill Henson ~ Untitled, 1974
Bill Henson ~ Untitled, 1974 | Art gallery of NSW
Bill Henson ~ Untitled # 31, 1974. Type C photograph | src Tolarno Galleries

Morgan dancer with tambourine

Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) ~ Marion Morgan dancer, 1914-1927 (detail)
Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) ~ Marion Morgan dancer, 1914-1927. Nitrate negative | src Library of Congress
Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) ~ Marion Morgan dancer, 1914-1927 (detail)
Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) ~ Marion Morgan dancer, 1914-1927. Nitrate negative | src Library of Congress
Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) ~ Marion Morgan dancer, 1914-1927 (detail)
Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) ~ Marion Morgan dancer, 1914-1927. Nitrate negative | src Library of Congress