Tanzbühne
10" x 8"
Oil
“Tanzbühne” is German for “dance stage.” This word is printed on the box that this cute little music box was packaged in. My grandfather used it to entertain my cousin and me when we were little. He would pull it down from a high shelf, wind it up, carefully clean the glass and the bottoms of the dancers’ bases with a tissue, and turn it on. We would watch the dancers spin and rotate around the little stage to the music, “Around the World (in 80 days)”. We were not allowed to touch it, which added to our perceived value of it. I don’t know what it is worth today, but it's precious to me. Here is a video to see the dancers in action.
My daughter gave me the bear. She said that everybody needs a bear to hug. In “Tanzbünhe”, I wanted the toys to interact… to see each other, across the generations.