- Title: ISRAEL: Baryshnikov photos on display in Tel Aviv
- Date: 25th October 2012
- Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (OCTOBER 25, 2012) (REUTERS) BLURRED PHOTO OF MALE DANCER
- Embargoed: 9th November 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
- Reuters ID: LVA3TJ0IGTIOZ6NJA0D3BU85EISL
- Story Text: After proving to the world he can dance and act, Mikhail Baryshnikov is now touring with a solo photography exhibition.
Baryshnikov's exhibition "Dance This Way", focuses on dance and movement.
He first picked up a camera two years ago, initially capturing his environment with family and landscapes in black and white. Of the first 20 rolls of film, he says 99 percent were over-exposed or out of focus but a few were strong enough to encourage him to keep exploring.
"I was working with all those photographers, nagging them about their advice - what kind of equipment, how to measure the light, what photography is about," Baryshnikov said.
Mikhail Nikolaevitch Baryshnikov was born in Riga, Latvia in 1948 and began his ballet studies there in 1960.
He joined the Kirov Ballet and made his debut at the Maryinsky Theatre in 1967 before defecting from the Soviet Union in 1974 in search for artistic and personal freedom in the West. His debut with the American Ballet Theatre followed that same year.
Considered by many as one of the greatest ballet dancers in history, Baryshnikov has also appeared in films, TV shows and theatre productions.
He said his interest in dance photography emerged after buying digital camera, which allowed him to capture movement in a more dynamic manner.
Photographed on stage over his whole life, Baryshnikov felt that most of the existing dance pictures do not do justice to what he calls the "sports of the Gods", as they aim to freeze the dancer mid-movement. The biggest challenge for him, he says, is the rapidness of the changing of light in dance environments - whether in discos or theatres or out in the street.
"I am a bit more confident in other forms of art than in my photography because it is new, it's the last 10-12 years, (it's) something not yet and I know I am just a halfway in," Baryshnikov told reporters in Tel Aviv.
"One lady or somebody said jokingly to me 'Oh, I love those pictures you do, but they are out of focus a little bit!'," he told the laughing audience.
Out of focus or not, visitors at the Israeli exhibition were touched by the photos.
"We are dancers, I am a dancer, he is a dancer. His pictures are of dancers, and you can see the movement in the photos. So I think when you see the movement we, everybody, feels. You feel it, you feel something. I think the photos actually are quite emotional," dancer Iain Robinson told Reuters after his visit.
"Dance This Way" has already been shown in Russia and the U.S. and is due to travel to Colombia and Italy in coming months. The exhibit is being shown at the Suzanne Dellal Art Centre in Tel Aviv from October 24-27, after which the photos will be auctioned to benefit Israeli dance artists and art. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.