Minoru Yamasaki was one of Detroit's and the nation's most accomplished architects in the post-World War II era. Yamasaki designed the building behind this attractive nude dancer. Yamasaki designed it for the Michigan Consolidated Gas Company, but the name was later changed to One Woodward Plaza. The well-known Italian sculptor, Giacomo Manzu, came to the United States to work with Yamasaki, who was impressed with his talents. Yamasaki asked Manzu to design statues to compliment two of his buildings: the statue of the Nymph and Faun that is in the courtyard of Wayne State's McGregor Memorial Conference Center and the Passo di Danza that you see. There is an attractive simplicity in the building that Yamasaki designed, but its beauty emphasizes the rectangular. Perhaps he wished to offset that with a statue that represented human vitality and the attractiveness of the human body. Manzu designed this graceful dancer who is strategically balanced on her toes. Her hands are raised above her head as she loosens her knotted, seductively long hair. The tapered pedestal that supports her, a pedestal that is at the center of a small reflecting pool, emphasizes her style. While her body is not Rubenesque, she does not have the extremely thin body type that is often associated with feminine beauty. Giacomo Manzu's wife served as the model for this statue.
Date of Installation: 1973
Sculptor: Giacomo Manzu
Material: Bronze