shanmonster | Let There Be Dance

Sometimes, jewellery rendering is a whole lot of waiting for paint to dry. So, while I'm waiting for my watercolours to dry on vellum, I thought I'd run back and forth between rooms and work on a gallery of vintage dance photography. All sorts of dance have caught my attention. I hope you like these pictures as much as I do!

Miss Zena Dare was a cancan dancer around 1905-1910. This British photograph is a bit naughty for the time, but very, very tame by today's standards.

In 1923, Edward Sheriff Curtis took this photograph of a Hupa dancer holding the head and skin of a black deer.

Another Edward Sheriff Curtis photograph, this time taken in 1910 of Flathead men dancing in the pines by teepees.

I don't know who she is, but she was probably a dancer for Warner Brothers around 1930.

This is Marie Louise Brown--an international celebrity around the time of the American Civil War. She was a circus freak and "midget" ballet dancer. This photo dates from about the 1860s.

Karina was the principle dancer for the Late Royal Opera House in Copenhagen around 1910. Somehow, she seems heavier than the ballerinas of today. Check out those calf muscles!

This is an albumen photograph dating from the late 1800s. It shows a Japanese dancer and her two attendants. If you ever wondered about how long insanely-high platform shoes have been fashionable in Japan, this photo should let you know it isn't a recent phenomenom.

Here are the Ted Shawn dancers performing a visual representation of "Brahm's Rhapsody." This dynamic photograph dates from the 1930s. I love the Ted Shawn photos so much I'm considering making a webpage devoted to them. What do you think?