Verbal Description: James Van Der Zee, Dancer, 1925 

Narrator: Dancer (1925) is a gelatin silver print on a sheet measuring 8 by 5 inches. It was made by American photographer James Van Der Zee, who is most known for his photographs chronicling life in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s.

This photo is a composed portrait of a light-skinned Black woman standing in an elaborate costume turned three-quarters to the right looking directly at the camera with a slight smile. The costume includes an elaborate dark feather headdress crowned in heavy beading with scallops of beads falling along the forehead, framing the face. Multiple strands of small pearls embellished with larger metal rings hang off the headdress from temple to temple, like the swoop of a necklace. The light catches on a metallic bodice shaping the dancer’s torso. A double tassel hangs from a single point at the navel. Two sets of long loops of dark shiny beads cascade from the bodice and waist belt, overlapping and falling at various lengths between thigh and knee. Both hands are at the waist level, one holds the hip lightly on the side closest to the viewer while the other floats in space with the fingers held horizontal in a delicate shape typical for an early twentieth century pose. Under the cascading beads is a long dark skirt or wide pantaloons. 

The time of day is unclear and the lighting is most likely artificial for the purposes of capturing the desired exposure. The dancer is illuminated, creating a magnetic draw to the center of the image. The edges of the photograph are less exposed giving the background a darker shadowy appearance. In the foreground, a heavy blanket or carpet with woven geometric patterns is draped over a piece of furniture. The background looks like a detailed backdrop of decorative wood molding like a parlor, ballroom, or study.