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The Ballerina - Part 1

I was thrilled when my friend Julie, who has danced world-wide as professional ballet dancer, agreed to be the subject of my first personal project.  We collaborated on the idea and this project has been unofficially dubbed "The Ballerina", consisting of three location shoots.  My goal is to create visual and mental juxtaposition by comparing and contrasting the common "idea" of a ballerina via the use of different locales. When most people, particularly those who are unfamiliar with performing arts, think of ballet or a ballerina, words that typically come to mind are: tutus, beauty, fluid, natural, grace, gentle, form, perfection, posture, etc.  I thought it would be interesting to take this mentality and use locations other than the stage as a means to show a real connection between ballet and the world around us, as well as to show other interesting and underlying sides/characteristics that make up a ballet dancer, i.e. lines, strength, tension, chaos, focus, stability, composure etc., from an artistic point of view.

Below are a few selects from our first location, Graffiti Alley in Baltimore, MD...enjoy.

Brings Me Back...

I had the opportunity to sit in on one of Julie's ballet classes again - this time with the little ones!  Gosh, were they cute.  It made me think back to when I was a little ballerina myself and it made me wish I never gave it up (I discovered sports instead..).  :)

Beautiful Ballet

I think ballet is beautiful and that's why I wanted to shoot it.  Not only is it a lovely dance, but there's something about the fluid motion of a ballerina that makes me think theres some zen connection between ballet and yoga, which I love.  

My friend Julie is professional ballerina and an instructor at The Ballet Royale Institute of Maryland. She let me observe her class with my camera and it definitely brought me back to my days as a tiny dancer. Julie, you and your students were stunning!  Here are a few of my favorites...