The fervent exploration of movement is a defining feature of the oeuvre of Edgar Degas, and nowhere is his exceptional aptitude for representing the human form in motion more evident than in his sculptures. John Rewald wrote: "It was in his passionate search for movement that all the statuettes of dancers doing arabesques, bowing, rubbing their knees, putting their stockings on, etc., and of women arranging their hair, stretching, rubbing their neck and so on were created. All these women are caught in poses which represent one single instant, in an arrested movement which is pregnant with the movement just completed and the one about to follow. To use Baudelaire's words, Degas "loved the human body as a material harmony, as a beautiful architecture with the addition of movement" (J. Rewald, op. cit., 1990, p. 23).

Discussing the pose of the dancer in the present work, Suzanne Glover Lindsay wrote that "this figure's 'Spanish' pose is not easily identified with dance movements or poses in the Spanish repertory. It suggests a hybrid of French ballet and Spanish dance, with a Spanish 'feel.' The arm position resembles forms in both dance types, but the complex posture departs from the ones of classical dance... The open thumbs and curled fingers evoked by the well-articulated, fragmentary hands suggest they hold castanets... By Degas's time, both dance types had been evolving for decades, especially in Paris, where he probably saw Spanish dance before traveling to Spain in 1889. His views of the latter probably derived from French adaptations, often inspired by Spanish troupes that began touring Europe in the 1830s to great applause, motivating European classical dancers and choreographers to appropriate elements" (S. Lindsay in S. Lindsay, D. Barbour & S. Sturman, op. cit., pp. 159-160).

After passing through some of the most highly regarded galleries, Danse Espagnole (Spanish Dance) finally settled in the collection of Ezra and Cecile Zilkha. The Zilkha family traced its roots back to ancient Babylon, and in the twentieth century they became prominent international bankers, once called the 'Rothschilds of the Levant'. Ezra and Cecile Zilkha's life in New York reflected this cosmopolitan outlook and deep appreciation of and passion for history. Their apartment overlooking Central Park represented one of the last of the accomplished Fifth Avenue interiors, inspired by the classical grandeur of a Parisian hôtel particulier. It provided a perfect setting for the Zilkhas's frequent entertainment of international diplomats, artists, politicians, and businessmen, and their philanthropic activities for the Metropolitan Opera and American Ballet Theater, among others. Displaying important Old Master paintings, eighteenth-century French and Continental furniture, objets d'art, sculpture, silver, and ceramics, alongside important Impressionist and Modern Art, this collection combines works ranging from the renowned cabinet maker André-Charles Boulle to Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas, thereby creating a distinguished and harmonious expression across time, style, and space.

The original wax model of Danse espagnole (Spanish Dance) is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; a number of bronze casts are in international museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Tate Gallery in London, Orsay Museum in Paris, The Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, and National Gallery in Oslo.