Edgar Degas (1834–1917, French). Dancers climbing a staircase, c. 1886–1888. Photo credit: Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY.

Degas often cropped figures to indicate motion and energy. Using one of his favorite approaches—the horizontal “frieze”—Degas shows only the upper half of one dancer's body, and only the head and raised hand of another, as the 2 dancers engage in what appears to be an urgent conversation on their way to practice. In the classroom, dancers gather in one corner of a large open space as they assume a sequence of familiar poses, almost a rote recitation of movements; and the dancer who has reached the top of the stairs seems to be entering the trance.