Harlequin joins the danseur collection

There's a new fella in my danseur collection. Meet Harlequin: a well-loved Zanni (servant) comic character from the Commedia dell-arte.

As a child, I knew the Carnaval ballet from books. But it primarily captured my imagination when I was 10 and my ballet class performed a Commedia-inspired routine to Strauss's Radetzky March at a ballet school Expo. Most of the class were clad in black and white Pierrot costumes. I was lucky to be given a solo role of Columbine and wore a splendid multicoloured tutu. A studious dancer, I read up about the ballet and the Commedia from the books we had at home (my mother had a magical collection of ballet books and my sister and I had been gifted a few of our own too).

During my second year at university when I picked up a Drama credit, I was overjoyed that the Commedia dell'arte was part of the drama history syllabus. While my voice acting skills left lots to be desired, I did well in the movement (physical theatre) and written components of the course, which aligned with my love of dance and cultural history.

Harlequin and Columbine have appeared within my Ballettoons illustrations but this is the first Commedia themed painting in my dance collection. It's a double-upcycled painting that started life as a ballerina and was then turned into an abstract creation. Something was missing from the composition until I reinvented it as a playful Harlequin. The stylised black mask, necktie, boots and hat hint at the character's iconic costume (well, my loose interpretation of the costume) as do the whirling squares that accentuate the sense of movement and mischief.

I think he's also the first upcycled creation in my Danseur series. Packing in anticipating of moving house this summer, I was proud how my danseur collection has grown. I kept finding more creations that needed to go into the Danseur box. There's definitely way more in that collection than I might've said if you'd asked me to guestimate how many I have. 

View what's currently available in my danseur collection. The collection celebrates my love of dance, pays tribute to the fact that men dance too and visualises my wish to perform some of those breathtaking male solos in the ballet repertoire. While the ballet painting genre tends to be dominated by tutus and pointe shoes, and I do paint plenty of those, I hope this collection contributes to redressing the imbalance and makes aspiring male dancers feel seen.