Ostrich Dancers
PAULA REGO
PAULA REGO, 1995
Rego’s women are frustrated. In stark contrast to painterly depictions of ballerinas from the past, Rego’s dancers are inelegant and uncomfortable; frustrated with themselves, with their garb and with each other. Taking its name and inspiration from Disney’s Fantasia, The Dancing Ostriches share few similarities with their graceful namesakes but they both exist in a storybook type world. ‘If you don’t know what to draw, read a story’, Rego says, and for her this is often fairy tales in their traditional guise – dark and beautiful. Rego’s ballerinas are her friends, her muses and sometimes herself. They are figures in dialogue with themselves.