Dialogue by Mark:

There are lots of different kinds of dance. When you're tired of jazz dancing on Jupiter, maybe you'd like to try squaredancing to country western music, or learn some old time Rock 'n Roll dances, or go ballroom dancing to a new swing band. Some dances are easy to learn. Others take years and years of study, like the dancers in our Master's Gallery today.

Our friend Kim at KidsArt, the prima ballerina of art history, brings us a painting by the French artist Edgar Degas. It is titled "The Ballet Class" and was done in 1880. Degas loved the ballet and many of his famous paintings are pictures of dancers, graceful and beautiful with their elegant poses and fluffy costumes. But he also painted the hard work that went in to their glamorous performances.

"The Ballet Class" shows young dancers hard at work, looking a bit awkward as they practice. One girl tries to do the classical position called an arabesque, standing on one toe with her other leg and arms outstretched. But her elbow is bent, her body leans too far forward...she's still learning how to make the position appear weightless and graceful.

While the girls practice, a group of people look on. In fact, one woman is so unimpressed with the spectacle that she slumps in a chair reading the newspaper. She's probably the mother of one of the young dancers and has sat through hundreds of ballet lessons.

What do you do that takes this much work...besides drawing of course. Baseball? Soccer? Music lessons? Learning to program the computer? When you love your work, the time flies and every minute is worthwhile! Thanks to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for sharing this great picture with Imagination Station.