Composed of 18 works on paper drawn primarily from the DMA's collection, On Stage: Society and Dance, 1860–1920 showcases a 60-year period of marked shifts in the way dance and dancers were perceived by the public. Traditional ballet and the public balls of high society were joined by risqué dance halls and cabarets, innovations in flamenco performance, and avant-garde choreography championed by the dancer Isadora Duncan. This was closely tied to changes in popular culture, gender roles, and societal standards. As Duncan declared in her 1903 speech “The Dance of the Future": “The dancer will not belong to a nation but to all humanity. She will dance not in the form of nymph, nor fairy, nor coquette but in the form of woman in its greatest and purest expression.” Dance was now an international and political art form, and visual artists were finding new inspiration in the spectacle, often returning to the subject repeatedly over the course of their career.
On Stage: Society and Dance, 1860–1920 is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art. The Dallas Museum of Art is supported, in part, by generous DMA Members and donors, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.
Images: Isadora Duncan Dancing, about 1906–1927. Abraham Walkowitz. Ink and watercolor on paper. Dallas Museum of Art, 2001.174.13; Isadora Duncan Dancing, about 1906–1927. Abraham Walkowitz. Ink and watercolor on paper. Dallas Museum of Art, 2001.174.1; Isadora Duncan Dancing, about 1906–1927. Abraham Walkowitz. Ink and watercolor on paper. Dallas Museum of Art, 2001.174.14.