Shadow theatre · ten seconds
The Ballerina
Is she spinning left or right? Vote, then try to turn her around with your eyes.
- Local
- One vote
- 10 seconds
Everything stays on this page. The shadow is drawn here, in your browser. No video.
As she passes in front, which way does she go?
Arrow keys work too.
Tonight's programme
Vote counted.
The counter runs on your word. Nobody measures anything.
- Follow the outstretched leg, not her face. Hold it at the edge of your eye and drift upward.
- Watch the shadow under her toes, then lift your gaze.
- Blink fast for a few seconds, or close your eyes and picture the other direction.
Nothing works for some people. If she will not flip, that is normal.
Why it happens
The shadow is flat. The drawing has no front and no back, and never says which leg passes in front. You get motion, not a direction.
Your brain supplies the depth. It watches the stage as if from above, and that gives one direction; watched as if from below, it gives the other. Troje and McAdam showed in 2010 that this assumed viewing angle is what divides people, not any lean toward one side.
It has nothing to do with hemispheres. The right-brain or left-brain test story is wrong; the direction you see says nothing about you.
Method and limits
Your vote and the counter stay on this page and vanish when you close it.
Reuse: CC BY 4.0. Credit "Marius Comper — The Ballerina (frozen 3 September 2026)".