Little Dancer

Who was that girl?

This question haunts admirers of Degas’ sculpture, "Little Dancer of 14 Years," the world over.

Moved by the sculpture and the inevitable question it elicits, our creative team was inspired to come together to create an original musical combining what we know with what they imagined might have been.

We know that in 1881, just as he was beginning to lose his eyesight, the great artist Edgar Degas exhibited his tough, inspiring, and uncompromising sculpture of a young ballerina. The unprecedent work incited a scandal, and the disgraced Degas kept the sculpture (now recognized as a seminal work of art) from the public eye for the rest of his life.

We know that soon after the exhibition and the scandal, the girl who posed for the sculpture was dismissed from the Paris Opera Ballet. She vanished into the Parisian slums, and her fate has been obscured by time.

Who was that girl? Her name was Marie Van Goethem.

THIS IS HER STORY.