Dancing girls

What you are looking at

Two women in elaborate Middle Eastern or North African dress dance with arms raised in a columned interior space. The figure on the right wears a white linen wrapper over a dark patterned skirt and gold jewelry; the figure on the left is dressed in pink and green fabrics with similar adornment. Both have their arms lifted to shoulder height or above, palms open and fingers extended in a gesture of joy or invocation. A third woman in white stands behind them, partially obscured. To the right, three seated male figures in turbans and robes watch the performance—one in red and gold, two in earth tones—their posture suggesting they are an audience. The setting is an austere interior with tall columns and arched openings that suggest a palace or wealthy household. The light is cool and even, falling from the left, with strong shadows defining the architectural forms. This is a hand-colored print; the technique has allowed the artist to render the fabrics and jewelry with jewel-like intensity, and the composition has the formal framing of a published work meant to document an observed social custom.

The dancing

The two central dancers stand nearly upright with weight evenly distributed, their torsos facing forward. Both have raised their arms to approximately shoulder height or slightly higher, with elbows bent and palms open—a gesture of celebration, blessing, or rhythmic emphasis rather than partnered hold. The arms are relaxed but purposeful, not rigid. Their feet are not clearly visible due to the long skirts, so footwork cannot be assessed. The third figure in white appears to be either participating or attending. The male observers sit at ground level, creating a clear spatial and social distinction between the performers and the audience.

The dance depicted

This appears to document Raqs Sharqi (belly dance) or a related form of women's social dance from the Ottoman or North African world, most likely from the 19th century. The raised arms, open palms, and upright posture are consistent with documented forms of women's celebratory dance from this region and period. The domestic or palace setting, the presence of a female audience, and the segregation of male observers suggest this is a social or household performance rather than a formal theatrical event. The artist has chosen to freeze a moment of joyous celebration—the peak of an arm movement, the radiance of the gesture—rather than attempting to capture a specific step or sequence.

How it was made

This is a hand-colored print, most likely a lithograph or color-printed engraving from the mid-19th century. The technique allowed the artist to achieve the luminous, jewel-like quality of the fabrics and jewelry, and the precision of the architectural detail. The formal framing and careful composition suggest this was a commercial publication, probably issued as a single sheet or as part of a series documenting non-European customs and dress for a European audience. The print has been mounted on card stock and housed in an institutional collection, indicating it was valued as a documentary artifact.

About this work

This is a hand-colored print documenting a scene of women's social dance in a Middle Eastern or North African household, most likely from the 19th century. The two central figures perform with raised arms and open palms, a gesture characteristic of Raqs Sharqi and related forms of celebratory women's dance. The domestic setting, the presence of female attendants, and the formal segregation of male observers all point to a household or palace performance rather than a public theatrical event. The work belongs in a gallery about dance because it is a valuable visual record of how this dance was performed and understood in its original cultural context—not as exotic spectacle for a distant audience, but as a joyous social practice among women.

How to look at it

Pay attention to the moment the artist chose: the peak of the arm gesture, when both dancers have their arms raised and open, as if in unison. This freeze-frame tells us that the arm movement was central to the dance and to its beauty—not incidental, but the primary visual statement. Note also the formal symmetry of the composition: the two dancers are nearly mirror images, posed in a way that emphasizes their synchronization and the deliberateness of their gesture. The male observers are placed at the margin, almost as an afterthought, which suggests that the dance itself—the movement and the joy of the women—is the true subject.

The artist

The artist is unknown, but the work bears the hallmarks of 19th-century European commercial printmaking—specifically the hand-colored lithographs and engravings that documented non-European cultures for European audiences. The style and technique place it in the tradition of Orientalist travel documentation, though the quality of observation and the formal, dignified framing of the dancers suggest the artist had more than passing familiarity with the subject.

The period

This print was made during the heyday of 19th-century Orientalism, when European artists and publishers were producing illustrated accounts of travel, ethnography, and 'exotic' customs. At the same time, Raqs Sharqi was undergoing significant transformation in the Ottoman and North African world—from a household and celebratory practice to an increasingly professionalized and commercialized theatrical form. This image captures a moment between these worlds: a domestic performance, but documented and circulated in the formal language of European scientific and ethnographic illustration. The print belongs to a larger body of work that both preserved and exoticized Middle Eastern culture for European consumption.

Where it lives

This work is held in the New York Public Library's collection of prints depicting dance. It is one of many such prints in institutional collections that document non-Western dance traditions as seen through 19th-century European eyes.

Dance in this work

Questions about this work