Step to beat - (tara butcher)

This piece was created by Fernando Botero in 1987 and depicts two people, a couple dancing at what seems to be party. Fernando Botero paints and draws bigger people and sees the beauty in the people the world tries to say isn’t beautiful. The formal elements of space is depicted here, the thing that takes up the most space is supposed to be the main focus of the artwork. Color is another formal element that is portrayed well, mostly primary and secondary colors with varying hues and values. By the colors you can tell that you are at maybe a gathering for older couples or a high school reunion and not at a nightclub or a studio. The Movement is shown by following their hands to their faces, to the women’s head, to the couple she is looking at which is depicted by the leg you see, showing the couples are moving around some out of frame. In my opinion it is a very great depiction of dance showing a beautiful moment between a couple.

Salomé was created in 1910 by Julio Borrell Pla and depicts a women dancing topless. When looking at this photo you wonder whether she’s dancing in a show, or for her lover, etc. The painting displays many beautiful forms one of which is color. The colors of her outfit seem to make it look like it’s shimmering. The principal of emphasis enhances the color; the artist used lighting to show the subject being the main focal point of the picture. The light makes her outfit shimmer even more and shows the shadows of her beautiful natural body. We may never know exactly why she is dancing topless, or for who, but we do know that she is a beautiful creation in movement.

Dancing Figure by Auguste Rodin is a very simple yet beautiful painting of a human dancing. Ballet has always been looked at as one of the most beautiful form of dancing. It can be simple movements to complex movements put together to make an amazing show. Auguste shows just how beautiful it is in his painting. The lines are drawn to make a simple figure of a human body. The color of flesh is then painted in not completely filling the line but still enhancing the sketch of the human body. Balance and Movement play out in this artwork and not for the obvious reasons. The subject is balanced by the space she takes up with the movement she is making; we follow her body from top to bottom in a visually fluid movement. Auguste created a simple artwork but made it beautiful by the subject he chose.

This painting called the ‘Circus wagon figure: dancing girl’ by Katharine Merrill is beautifully done. The painting looks less like a painting and more like an actual wooden figure of a wagon. The color of the painting is very dull and neutral but you could tell that if this had been a wooden figure the paint was very bright and beautiful. Lines and are used to show ware, and make the subject of the painting look old and used. The proportion of subject and the negative space created by the background makes the photo look like a real object popping out at you.

The painting titled Female entertainers performing a sword dance by Kim Jun-geun depicts two entertainers of Korean decent performing with swords. The painting shows the way different cultures express themselves through dance. The principal of movement is shown and not just in the way of dance, the way the drawings are placed you can follow the swords around through the painting and back again. The swords create a pattern and repetition that makes the movement of the photo fluid. The colors are beautiful and true to Korean colors and patterns. Overall the photo is a great show of dance and creativity in different cultures.

Satyr watching some Nymphs by Josep Maria Sert depicts nude Nymphs dancing while a Satyr watches in the trees. The building in the background is obviously Greek, while the Satyr and the Nymph are known well in Greek mythology. The painting shows a classic Greek style with the colors chosen. Most Greek work was done with blacks and yellows, or neutral colors. The space is used well and the line of movement draws your eyes to the larger Satyr and down to the Nymphs. The piece is done well and depicts a great moment in Greek Mythology.

This painting titled The Dancers by Arthur B. Davies is more of a classical painting. The colors are darker, maybe depicting that it was later in the evening. The three girls seem to be dancing next to a foggy lakefront by themselves having fun. The lines direct you from left hand bottom corner to the right middle of the painting. The dark lines seem to draw a line on where the land begins and what looks like water starts.

You can’t make a gallery about dance without including the portrait of Martha Graham painted by Paul R. Meltsner. This painting of Martha displays her so well, the crisp lines of her body and the way he portrays her age yet her beauty. The lines of the pole she is holding draws your eyes to the stance she is in. The colors are darker but the lighting brings emphasis to her face and body. The space of this photo is taken up well, bringing the most emphasis to her, the subject of this painting.

The Six Dancers painted by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is more of a simplistic painting in the way the shapes and lines are. The painting is still beautiful in its own right. The repetition of the girl’s outfits and movement is very normal in ballet. Most companies during a performance will wear matching outfits. He took the time out though to give the girl’s different personalities with their hair and facial shapes and expressions. The space is taken up well bringing in the most attention to the girls themselves the main subject of the painting. The colors are bright and tend to bring happiness to them; you can tell the girls are having fun.

In Vaudeville (Dancer with Chorus) by Charles Demuth was created in 1918 around the time that Vaudeville was so popular in the US and Canada. This photo in my opinion shows the perfect sense of what Vaudeville was a show of perfect and ostentatious entertainment in the US. The Front man seems to be moving rapidly while the dancers behind him seem to be backing him up. The color is bright and fun much like Vaudeville was meant to be. They seem to be in their own little world and the movement of the picture seems to go from the front man, to the back of the photo where you wonder where they may exactly be performing. The artwork depicts a great moment in Northern American dance history.