The Pet of the Ballet.

About this work

This print shows a series of eight pictures, each one a dancer waiting in the wings. It uses a comic style, not the usual pretty pose you’d see in ballet prints. The dancers were real people, not stars. They were hired hands—called ‘peris’ or ‘little rats’—who filled the stage between the big stars’ turns. Their job was to stand still and look decorative. Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum.