To be an eye-opener in the art of photography of today is an uphill task even for fully accomplished photo artists. It is even harder when you deal with such a composite topic as ballet, a theatrical performance in which a story is told through dancing and music. In ballet, the photographer has to face scores of challenges, which can be sorted out with a proper artistic touch only by a fully-fledge professional.

Indeed, each ballet show involves a scriptwriter, composer, ballet-master, artist and, finally, dancers. Photographers’ task is to grasp all this synergy to come up with their own vision of the artistic individuality of the performers.

As a rule, many Vladimir’s peers prefer to take photos of ballet dancers in action in their habitual images both classical and modern. Vladimir’s new project is unique because it pioneers a series of psychological portraits of reputable Russian dancers who have contributed to the fame of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater and St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater. In this connection it would be enough to mention such already known portraits as those of Ilze Liepa, Nina Ananiashvili, Nadezhda Grachyova and Farukh Ruzimatov.

The project also features world-renowned dancers who serve the ballet in other countries, such as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Vladimir Malakhov as well as great performers of the past, such as Yuri Grigorovich, Mikhail Lavrovsky, Vladimir Vassiliev and Yekaterina Maksimova to name just a few.

Why famous people in general and artistic performers in particular keep catching our imagination? Probably, among other things, because of their ability to attain their objectives. They clear barriers on their way, they are lucky and they are darlings of the crowd. Moreover, in the eyes of the wide public they represent a luring world of glamour accessible only to the chosen few.

If so, you are welcome to the wonderful world of photography discovered by Vladimir Clavijo-Telepnev!