Nose 16

ANGELINA BALLERINA

My two daughters each had their few years at dance classes, though neither had the drive—nor the parental dedication—to make the transition onto pointe. And there were no books on Margot Fonteyn or Rudolph Nureyev in the house. But when I drew the nose as Anna Pavlova she still seemed familiar. Then I remembered a set of books—read and reread to my daughters—about a mouse who becomes a ballerina.

This text by William Kentridge appears alongside the illustration of this print in William Kentridge Nose: Thirty Etchings, edited by Bronwyn Law-Viljoen and published by David Krut Publishing in 2010.