LINCOLN SQUARE — A 2-and-a-half-ton hippo in a tutu is jeté-ing her way into Lincoln Square.
"Hippo Ballerina," a bronze sculpture created by Danish artist Bjørn Okholm Skaarup, will strike a pose in her copper tutu in Dante Park at West 64th Street and Broadway, just steps from Lincoln Center, this February.
Skaarup drew inspiration from Edgar Degas' famous ballerinas, specifically his "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen," a bronze sculpture of a dancer at rest wearing a silk and cotton tutu. The dancing hippos from Walt Disney's "Fantasia" also inspired his choice of subject for the work.
"I think a fun way to revitalize themes from art history that have been forgotten lately is through animal allegories, because we are so used to that through animation and fables," Skaarup said in a release about the project.
The sculpture, which stands more than 15 feet high, is part of a the Parks' Department's Art in the Parks program and will remain in place through July 31, 2017.
Visitors who use the hashtag #Dancewithhippoballerina when posing next to the sculpture have a chance at winning tickets to a Lincoln Center ballet. The hippo will also have her own Instagram account: @Dancewithhippoballerina.
A dozen more of Skaarup's bronze animals are part of a companion exhibit, "Bronze Creatures Great and Small" at the Cavalier Gallery, 3 West 57th St., from Feb. 7 through March 17, 2017.
