The spinning dancer, also known as the silhouette illusion, is a kinetic, bistable, animated optical illusion originally distributed as a GIF animation showing a silhouette of a pirouetting female dancer. The illusion, created in 2003 by Japanese web designer Nobuyuki Kayahara,^[1][2] involves the apparent direction of motion of the figure. Some observers initially see the figure as spinning clockwise (viewed from above) and some counterclockwise. Additionally, some may see the figure suddenly spin in the opposite direction.^[2]

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The illusion derives from the lack of visual cues for depth. For instance, as the dancer's arms move from viewer's left to right, it is possible to view its arms passing between its body and the viewer (that is, in the foreground of the picture, in which case it would be circling counterclockwise on its right foot) and it is also possible to view its arms as passing behind the dancer's body (that is, in the background of the picture, in which case it is seen circling clockwise on its left foot).

When it is facing to the left or to the right, its breasts and ponytail clearly define the direction it is facing, although there is ambiguity in which leg is which. However, as it moves away from facing to the left (or from facing to the right), the dancer can be seen facing in either of two directions. At first, these two directions are fairly close to each other (both left, say, but one facing slightly forward, the other facing slightly backward) but they become further away from each other until they reach a position where its ponytail and breasts are in line with the viewer (so that neither the breasts nor the ponytail are seen so readily). In this position, it could be facing either away from the viewer or towards the viewer, so that the two possible positions are 180 degrees apart.

Another aspect of this illusion can be triggered by placing a mirror vertically beside the image. The natural expectation would be for the normal image and its reflection to spin in opposite directions. This does not necessarily happen, and provides a paradoxical situation where both mirrored dancers spin in the same direction.

Psychology of visual perception[edit]

It has been established that the silhouette is more often seen rotating clockwise than counterclockwise. According to an online survey of over 1600 participants, approximately two thirds of observers initially perceived the silhouette to be rotating clockwise. In addition, observers who initially perceived a clockwise rotation had more difficulty experiencing the alternative.^[3]

These results can be explained by a psychological study providing evidence for a viewing-from-above bias that influences observers' perceptions of the silhouette.^[4][5] Kayahara's dancer is presented with a camera elevation slightly above the horizontal plane. Consequently, the dancer may also be seen from above or below in addition to spinning clockwise or counterclockwise, and facing toward or away from the observer. Upon inspection, one may notice that in Kayahara's original illusion, seeing the dancer spin clockwise is paired with constantly holding an elevated viewpoint and seeing the dancer from above. The opposite is also true; an observer maintaining an counterclockwise percept has assumed a viewpoint below the dancer. If observers report perceiving Kayahara's original silhouette as spinning clockwise more often than counterclockwise, there are two chief possibilities. They may have a bias to see it spinning clockwise, or they may have a bias to assume a viewpoint from above. To tease these two apart, the researchers created their own versions of Kayahara's silhouette illusion by recreating the dancer and varying the camera elevations. This allowed for clockwise-from-above (like Kayahara's original) and clockwise-from-below pairings. The results indicated that there was no clockwise bias, but rather a viewing-from-above bias. Furthermore, this bias was dependent upon camera elevation. In other words, the greater the camera elevation, the more often an observer saw the dancer from above.

In popular psychology, the illusion has been incorrectly^[6] identified as a personality test that supposedly reveals which hemisphere of the brainis dominant in the observer. Under this wrong interpretation, it has been popularly called the 'right brain–left brain test,^[7] and was widely circulated on the Internet during late 2008 to early 2009.^[8]

A 2014 paper describes the brain activation related to the switching of perception. Utilizing fMRI in a volunteer capable of switching at will the direction of rotation, it was found that a part of the right parietal lobe is responsible for the switching. The authors relate this brain activation to the recently described spontaneous brain fluctuations.^[9]

Bistable perception[edit]

There are other optical illusions that depend on the same or a similar kind of visual ambiguity known as multistable, in that case bistable, perception. One example is the Necker cube.

Depending on the perception of the observer, the apparent direction of spin may change any number of times, a typical feature of so-called bistable percepts such as the Necker cube which may be perceived from time to time as seen from above or below. These alternations are spontaneous and may randomly occur without any change in the stimulus or intention by the observer. However some observers may have difficulty perceiving a change in motion at all.

One way of changing the direction perceived is to use averted vision and mentally look for an arm going behind instead of in front, then carefully move the eyes back. Some may perceive a change in direction more easily by narrowing visual focus to a specific region of the image, such as the spinning foot or the shadow below the dancer and gradually looking upwards. One can also try to tilt one's head to perceive a change in direction. Another way is to watch the base shadow foot, and perceive it as the toes always pointing away from oneself and it can help with direction change. One can also close one's eyes and try and envision the dancer going in a direction then reopen them and the dancer should change directions. Still another way is to wait for the dancer's legs to cross in the projection and then try to perceive a change in the direction in what follows. One can also try using one's peripheral vision to distract the dominant part of the brain, slowly look away from the ballerina and one may begin to see it spin in the other direction. Perhaps the easiest method is to blink rapidly (slightly varying the rate if necessary) until consecutive images are going in the 'new' direction. Then one can open one's eyes and the new rotational direction is maintained. It is even possible to see the illusion in a way that the dancer is not spinning at all, but simply rotating back and forth 180 degrees.Slightly altered versions of the animation have been created with an additional visual cue to assist viewers who have difficulty seeing one rotation direction or the other. Labels and white edges have been added to the legs, to make it clear which leg is passing in front of the other. Looking at one of these can sometimes then make the original dancer image above spin in the corresponding direction.

Further analysis[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Nobuyuki Kayahara's website
2. ^ ^abParker-Pope, Tara (2008-04-28). 'The Truth About the Spinning Dancer'. Well Blog. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
3. ^'Casual Fridays: TK-421, why can't you spin that woman in reverse?'. Cognitive Daily. 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
4. ^Troje N F, McAdam M (2010-11-14). 'The viewing-from-above bias and the silhouette illusion'(PDF). i-Perception 1(3) 143–148. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-04-30. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
5. ^Kattinakere, Ragu (2008-02-03). 'Spinning lady explained'. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
6. ^Novella, Steven (2007-10-11). 'Left Brain – Right brain and the Spinning Girl'. NeuroLogica Blog. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
7. ^'The Right Brain vs Left Brain test'. PerthNow. The Sunday Times. 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
8. ^'Which side of your brain is more dominant?'. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
9. ^Bernal B, Guillen M, Marquez J. “The spinning dancer illusion and spontaneous brain fluctuations: an fMRI study”. Neurocase. 2014;20:627–39.

Pictures Of Dancers Art

Dancing Girl is a prehistoric bronze sculpture made in lost-wax casting about c. 2300–1750 BCE in the Indus Valley Civilisation city of Mohenjo-daro (in modern-day Pakistan),^[1] which was one of the earliest cities. The statue is 10.5 centimetres (4.1 in) tall, and depicts a naked young woman or girl with stylized proportions standing in a confident, naturalistic pose. Dancing Girl is well-regarded as a work of art, and is a cultural artefact of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

The statuette was discovered by British archaeologist Ernest Mackay in the 'HR area' of Mohenjo-daro in 1926.^[2] It is held by the National Museum, New Delhi, and the ownership of the statue is disputed by Pakistan.^[3][4]

Description[edit]

This is one of 2 bronze art works found at Mohenjo-daro that show more flexible features when compared to other more formal poses. The girl is naked, wears a number of bangles and a necklace and is shown in a natural standing position with one hand on her hip.^[5] She wears 24 to 25 bangles on her left arm and 4 bangles on her right arm, and some object was held in her left hand, which is resting on her thigh; both arms are unusually long.^[6] Her necklace has three big pendants. She has her long hair styled in a big bun that is resting on her shoulder.^[7]

Expert opinions[edit]

In 1973, British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler described the item as his favourite statuette:

'She's about fifteen years old I should think, not more, but she stands there with bangles all the way up her arm and nothing else on. A girl perfectly, for the moment, perfectly confident of herself and the world. There's nothing like her, I think, in the world.' ^[8]

John Marshall, the archeologist at Mohenjo-daro who found the figure, described the figure as 'a young girl, her hand on her hip in a half-impudent posture, and legs slightly forward as she beats time to the music with her legs and feet'.^[9] He is known to reacted with surprise when he saw this statuette. He said 'When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that they were prehistoric.' ^[10] The archaeologist Gregory Possehl described Dancing Girl as 'the most captivating piece of art from an Indus site' and qualified the description of her as a dancer by stating that, 'We may not be certain that she was a dancer, but she was good at what she did and she knew it.'^[11]

Belly Dancers Pictures

The statue led to two important discoveries about the civilization: first that they knew metal blending, casting and other sophisticated methods, and secondly that entertainment, especially dance was part of the culture.^[2] The bronze girl was made using the lost-wax casting technique and shows the expertise of the people in making bronze works during that time.^[5]

A similar bronze statuette was found by Mackay during his final full season of 1930–31 at DK-G area in a house at Mohenjo-daro. The preservation, as well as quality of craftsmanship, is inferior to that of the well known Dancing Girl.^[11] This second bronze female figure is displayed at Karachi Museum, Pakistan.^[12]

An engraving on a piece of red potsherd, discovered at Bhirrana, India, a Harappan site in Fatehabad district in Haryana, shows an image that is evocative of Dancing Girl. The excavation team leader, L. S. Rao, Superintending Archaeologist, Excavation Branch, ASI, remarked that, “... the delineation [of the lines in the potsherd] is so true to the stance, including the disposition of the hands, of the bronze that it appears that the craftsman of Bhirrana had first-hand knowledge of the former”.^[13][14]

Pictures Of Dancers To Print

Ownership dispute[edit]

Some Pakistani politicians and experts have demanded that the Dancing Girl be 'returned' to Pakistan.^[15] In 2016 Pakistani barrister, Javed Iqbal Jaffery, petitioned the Lahore High Court for the return of the statue, claiming that it had been 'taken from Pakistan 60 years ago on the request of the National Arts Council in Delhi but never returned.' According to him, the Dancing Girl was to Pakistan what Da Vinci's Mona Lisa was to Europe.^[4]

Another version of events, however, 'suggests the statue was taken to Delhi before Partition by Mortimer Wheeler'.^[3]

References[edit]

1. ^Harle, J.C., The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, p. 17, 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, ISBN0300062176
2. ^ ^ab'Collections:Pre-History & Archaeology'. National Museum, New Delhi. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
3. ^ ^abKhalid, Haroon (26 October 2016). 'Should Pakistan get the dancing girl from Mohenjo-Daro back?'. Huffington Post.
4. ^ ^abReporter, The Newspaper's Staff (2016-10-11). 'Move to bring 'Dancing Girl' back from India'. DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
5. ^ ^abMcIntosh, Jane R. (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley : New Perspectives. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 281, 407. ISBN9781576079072. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
6. ^Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India : from the Stone Age to the 12th century. New Delhi: Pearson Education. p. 162. ISBN9788131711200. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
7. ^Nalapat, Dr Suvarna (2013-02-16). Origin of Indians and their Spacetime. D C Books. ISBN9789381699188.
8. ^'The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro – Who Was She?'. thoughtco.com. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
9. ^Possehl, Gregory (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. AltaMira Press. p. 113. ISBN978-0-7591-0172-2.
10. ^Marshall, John. Mohenjo daro and Indus Civilization. Arthur Probsthain.
11. ^ ^abPossehl, Gregory L. (2002). The indus civilization : a contemporary perspective (2. print. ed.). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. p. 114. ISBN9780759101722. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
12. ^'Bronze female figure, Mohenjodaro'. masterfile.com. Masterfile. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
13. ^'Discoveries made at Bhirrana in Haryana provide the missing link in the evolution of Harappan civilisation archaeology'. Frontline. 2008-01-19. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
14. ^Subramanian, T. S. (12 September 2007). 'The ageless tale a potsherd from Bhirrana tells'. The Hindu, Newspaper. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
15. ^Mansoor, Hasan (11 October 2016). 'Pakistan needs to do homework for Dancing Girl's return'. Dawn.

General references

• Craddock PT. 2015. The metal casting tradiitons of South Asia: Continuity and innovation.Indian Journal of History of Science 50(1):55–82.
• During Caspers ECL. 1987. Was the dancing girl from Mohenjo-daro a Nubian?Annali, Istituto Oriental di Napoli 47(1):99–105.
• Kenoyer JM. 1998. Seals and sculpture of the Indus cities. Minerva 9(2):19–24.
• Possehl GL. 2002. The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, California: Altamira Press.
• Prakash B. 1983. Metallurgy in India through the ages.Bulletin of the Metals Museum of the Japan Institute of Metals 8:23–36.
• Sadasivan B. 2011. The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Picture Of Dancer Girl Pictures