The sculpture, known from an early photograph, is executed in a highly Cubist syntax, in opposition to the softness and curvilinearity of Nabis, Symbolist or Art Nouveau forms.

Even the vase, upon close examination, appears treated in geometric terms, its sphericity broken by an angular cut to the right, barely visible in the photograph.

[2][3] Just as in Csaky's Groupe de femmes (1911–12), Danseuse already showed a new way of representing the human figure, an unwillingness to revert to classical, academic or traditional methods of representation.

[2] The 1912 Automne exhibition, held in Paris at the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées from 1 October to 8 November resulted in a xenophobe and anti-modernist quarrel in the National Assembly (France).

[9] The scandal prompted the critic Roger Allard to defend the Cubists in the journal La Côte, pointing out that it wasn't the first time the Salon d'Automne—a venue to promote modern art—came under attack by city officials, the Institute, and members of the Conseil.

[10][11] At the Salon des Indépendants, held in Paris 1 to 30 March 1914, composed of many Orphist works of large dimension and took place in one of the largest rooms on the ground floor of the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées: Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, Patrick Henry Bruce and Arthur Burdett Frost were largely represented.