Who posed as the dancers in Edgar Degas’s The Ballet Class?

There is no record of specific individuals who posed as the dancers in The Ballet Class. While the painting depicts a scene of dancers being assessed by the ballet master Jules Perrot, the figures were not portraits of specific performers.1

Instead, Edgar Degas prepared for his work by making numerous drawings of various dancers who posed for him in his studio. Throughout his career, he frequently hired models to pose for his ballet and bathing scenes, often improvising the settings or utilizing familiar props rather than documenting specific individuals or real-time rehearsals.12