Ballet is the expression of thousands of hours’ of disciplinary training combined with a graceful idiom. To the photographer it is a challenge to capture and freeze this complex expression: the stretched instep, the climax in a jump, the well-trained body, which for a moment seems to cancel gravity. To the dancers it is all a balancing act between success and failure.
At various occasions I have had the pleasure of getting access to this universe of power and beauty. At first in 1984, when the Martha Graham Contemporary Dance Company performed in Denmark for the purpose of shooting television broadcasts produced by Thomas Grimm. Later the Russian Kirov Ballet paid Denmark a visit, also for the purpose of doing television. Again I had the chance to focus on a legendary ballet company.
Photographing the elitist ballet companies obviously is a great experience, but another not less exiting situation is to observe the hard work and daily training at ballet schools.
In March, 2003 I got access to Pro Danza, a ballet school in Havana managed by Laura Alonso. Being “the fly on the wall” for a couple days, I observed the training. Later, in October 2004 I was invited to visit the Ballet de Camagüey (a branch of Ballet Nacional de Cuba in Havana).
