Antoanet and Kim, Two Dancers, 2011

Video still of Antoanet and Kim, Two Dancers, 2011.

Inspired by Edgar Degas, Two Dancers on a Stage, c. 1874.

We liked the dancers and they made us think about music and movement. We liked the texture and the colours. We thought there was a lot of scope for experimenting with the angles and space. The composition shows action through the central focus at the side of the painting.

Degas was really fascinated about the ballet for around ten years, but he would always keep it open to the audience so they could use their imagination. He also witnessed them practising dancing, and sketched them, and made us feel like we were there.

Because of the sketching we thought we could incorporate that in the beginning of the animation. We looked at the movement of the ballerinas, which we researched to get a feeling of what Degas witnessed.

Our animation is about Degas’ process of drawing and painting, and how he saw them dancing. Also the harsh reality of dancing at that time.

Inspired by:

Edgar Degas, Two Dancers on a Stage, c.1874

Edgar Degas, Two Dancers on a Stage, c.1874

Degas was fascinated by ballet. These dancers are probably performing the Ballet des Roses, staged by the Paris Opera company during performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Degas often used unconventional viewpoints to evoke modern urban life. We look down on these two ballerinas, as if watching them from a box beside the stage. They seem to interact, though their expressions and poses are hard to read. Our view of the third dancer, on the far left, is deliberately cut off.