by Annie Vischer.
The Ballerina Project is nothing new. You may have seen it pop up on a few Tumblrs or Pinterest pages occasionally, maybe someone you know has one of the pictures as their desktop. What has become more apparent recently though is its slow and steady Instagram take over. Its Ballerina Project Instagram page comes no where near to showing the whole series, and yet it has garnered over 240,000 subscribers.
Photographer Dane Shitagi began the Ballerina Project 12 years ago. He set out to capture ballerinas posing and performing in everyday locations. He has taken them out of the stage and studio settings that we are so used to seeing them in, and planted them in parks, on streets, on station platforms. The extraordinary physical grace and abilities of these dancers is often taken for granted when seen as an audience member. Shitagi highlights these factors to the highest degree by juxtaposing the ballet dancers against every day surroundings.
The dancers are pictured in every stateside location imaginable. In one a dancer’s perfect arabesque pose matches the beauty of a glittering New York Skyline, in another an enthusiastic split jump brings out the forgotten vibrancy of a graffitied wall in Toronto, and in another the willowy poise of the dancer fits perfectly with her sun-kissed Miami surroundings.
There is something beautifully modest and organic about the collection. It’s ballet dancing as we have never seen it before. It’s without the pomp and ceremony of theatre performances, without the blood, sweat and tears of a stereotypical dancer-in-a-studio image. They are beautiful in their simplicity, and a refreshing way to appreciate the talent that ballet dancers possess.
Many of the women pictured are soloists at top ballet companies, yet all hierarchy is eradicated. Prima ballerinas are indistinguishable from the chorus line in Shitagi’s photographic collection.
The Ballerina Project may be responsible for rousing a little nostalgia for those young girl ballet school days. Read about the classes offered by London’s Central School of Ballet here for a chance to revisit the barre. And if you thought the days of the ballet bun were far behind you, then think again. Read all about the latest hair trend here and how the hair team at Nevilles are catering for it.
