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Audio and multimedia producer Sofie Andersen on motion's expressive and narrative nature.
My name is Sofie Andersen. I'm an audio and multimedia producer, and my topic is "Dance."
I was a dancer from the age of about four or five. It was a
huge part of my life and passion of mine. I
learned through the body, technique, and through gesture, that I could create some kind of greater experience. That foundation
has always put me in mind of what is the artistic process. One of the things I really admire about artists in general is
their ability to capture fleeting moments and dance is one of those. There's so much myth about
who dancers are and what they put themselves through and what it means to be a performer. I was five
or six when I was first on stage. The nerves outweighed the applause. That kind of experience I think really stays with you.
As a dancer you learn to tell stories and communicate in direct ways, but also in indirect ways. The gesture of your fingers right down to the weight-bearing toe can make a difference to how the whole pose can look. One of
the qualities of dancers is their ability to make very difficult acts look effortless.
The physical impact of these arms and legs compressed together would not seem to suggest dance and grace, but I think shows through the multiplicity of hands and the multiplicity of arms and the way in which the viewpoints are all skewed, this incredible force and tension comes through.
This Jean Dunand screen with these falling seraphim really caught my eye because they're progressing through this rocky ravine, and this is sort of a terrible moment, they're falling down, but there's joy in the gesture in the flinging of the arms wide. There's almost a joy in that free floating, free form.
I think that expressionistic mode in art finds parallels in dance. It will look like the dancer is
deciding just in the moment whatever impulse they have, but of course there's so much that goes into it beforehand that is behind the scenes.
There's this incredible movement through the center of this pierced form and the strings that run through it. And it reminds me of an organic form that is about to become something that is connected with the physical artist being a dancer.
The Narcissus creates a sense of calm and it creates a sense of internal light and freedom, which you can sometimes feel when you're in that moment where the dance is coming together. It looks like chaos but it's actually incredibly beautiful and choreographed and still.
Susanne Rosenthal is my grandmother's cousin. She was the soloist for the Stuttgart Ballet. Unfortunately, she was living in a time when her background as a Jew made it impossible for her to have that career fulfilled. But when I look at this I'm just so happy because I know that she had that moment but also I just think of the joy that dance gives you as a person.
I have a very young daughter who has started to dance completely uninitiated by us.
She just hears music and she loves to dance and she is this vision of
sheer happiness when she's dancing. It's a time in your life when you're uninhibited and you have no idea about what you should or shouldn't being doing in life, that you're just responding instinctively to music. I really can't think of anything better
in life than seeing that in my daughter.
Works of art in order of appearanceLast Updated: June 22, 2015. Not all works of art in the Museum's collection may be on view on a particular day. For the most accurate location information, please check this page on the day of your visit. |
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Girl Dancing 1897; this cast, ca. 1906 Bessie Potter Vonnoh (American) Bronze Rogers Fund, 1906 (06.305) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
[Loie Fuller Dancing] ca. 1900 Samuel Joshua Beckett (English) Gelatin silver print Gilman Collection, Purchase, Mrs. Walter Annenberg and The Annenberg Foundation Gift, 2005 (2005.100.950) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
Dancing a Waltz 1883–86 Eadweard Muybridge (American, born Great Britain) Glass positive Gift of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, 1938 (38.82.22) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
Miss Loïe Fuller 1893 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French) Lithograph printed in five colors on vellum Rogers Fund, 1970 (1970.534) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Drawings and PrintsSecond Floor | |
[Dance Class, Savannah, Georgia] 1935 Walker Evans (American) Film negative Walker Evans Archive, 1994 (1994.253.438.1) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
[Dance Study with Movement] 1925–28 Zivago (Russian) Platinum print Purchase, Jennifer and Joseph Duke Gift, 2000 (2000.86) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a Small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso) 1508–12 Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian) Italian Red chalk (recto); charcoal or black chalk (verso) Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1924 (24.197.2) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Drawings and PrintsSecond Floor | |
Diana 1892–93; this cast, 1928 Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American) Bronze, gilt Rogers Fund, 1928 (28.101) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
The Street 1977 Philip Guston (American, born Montreal) Oil on canvas Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace and Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Saul Gifts, Gift of George A. Hearn, by exchange, and Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1983 (1983.457) © Estate of Philip Guston More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Modern and Contemporary ArtSecond Floor | |
Fortissimo screen 1925–26 Jean Dunand (French, born Switzerland) and Séraphin Soudbinine (French, born Russia) Lacquered wood, eggshell, mother-of-pearl Gift of Mrs. Solomon R. Guggenheim, 1950 (50.102.4) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Modern and Contemporary ArtSecond Floor | |
Mysuseter III 1991 Per Kirkeby (Danish) Oil on canvas Purchase, Harriett Ames Charitable Trust Gift, in memory of Lita Annenberg Hazen, 1996 (1996.350) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Modern and Contemporary ArtSecond Floor | |
Untitled ca. 1948–49 Jackson Pollock (American) Dripped ink and enamel on paper Gift of Lee Krasner Pollock, 1982 (1982.147.27) © 2011 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Modern and Contemporary ArtSecond Floor | |
Oval Form with Strings and Color 1966 Barbara Hepworth (British) Elmwood and painted Elmwood with cotton strings Purchase, Gift of Hon. and Mrs. Peter I. B. Lavan, by exchange, 2007 (2007.95) © Bowness, Hepworth Estate More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Modern and Contemporary ArtSecond Floor | |
Narcissus Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) Zhao Mengjian (Chinese) Handscroll; ink on paper Ex coll.: C.C. Wang Family, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1973 (1973.120.4) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Asian ArtSecond Floor | |
Bacchante and Infant Faun 1893–94; this cast 1894 Frederick William MacMonnies (American) Bronze Gift of Charles F. McKim, 1897 (97.19) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
[Cavorting by the Pool at Garsington] ca. 1916 Lady Ottoline Violet Anne Cavendish-Bentinck Morrell (English) Gelatin silver print Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005 (2005.100.950) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
© 2011 The Metropolitan Museum of Art |