Ballet Russe "'Frozen' Motion"

[rg]

Vladimir Dokoudovsky, Tatiana Stepanova, Nina Stroganova captured in what was then called a 'strobo-scopic' photo in 1946.

Photographs of dancers during this era were generally made in studios; eventually, the so-called "action photo" came into use for those captured in actual performance. This strobo type indicates a studio shot catching motion in a time when camera exposure times were slower than they eventually became.

BA members might be able to determine which of these women is Stepanova and which Strogonva (misspelt on the captioning).

The costuming left-to-right seems to be Graduation Ball, Blue Bird pas de deux and Les Sylphides (or perhaps as the sylphide in the La Sylphide pas de deux in Graduation Ball?

[sandik]

This kind of image is so familiar to us now, but must have been quite extraordinary at the time.