Degas frequently drew from models, and some of the dancers who posed for him, such as Nelly Franklin and Marie van Goethem, are now better known for that role than for their dancing skills. However, Degas transformed these real dancers into a fictive ballet troupe that rehearsed constantly in his imagination and performed only in his pictures.

For this fine pastel Degas selected a gesture—the adjustment of a sash and skirt—that he had included in a number of pictures and made it the central event in a new work. Although he had doubtless observed dancers adjusting their costumes during his visits to the foyer de la danse, it is unlikely that he had ever seen this particular scene in a rehearsal. Dancers did not wear sashes—or neck ribbons, for that matter—during practice, and only rarely on stage. But the sashes were crucial to Degas because they enabled him to bring bright splashes of color to a scene that would otherwise have tended toward the drab. This pastel, then, is not a study from life, although a model may have posed for the artist. Instead, it is a completely artificial, and artfully convincing, representation: a slice of art rather than a slice of life.