From New York to Venice. 1999-2014. 15 years have passed since the New York photographer Dane Shitagi invented the first Ballerina Project, photographing dancers of famous US dance companies in the most degraded areas of the Big Apple.The idea behind the project was to create images of strong visual impact to show the contrast between the beauty and elegance of the dancers and the degradation and squalor of the metropolitan area of New York. Taking the inspiration to this initial project, other photographers have adapted the idea to their city, among others, Ballerina Project UK by photographer Alex Yip, to which I participated as dancer in 2009, in London.
In 2014, combining my passion for dance, gained in over 20 years of studies, and the profession as photographer, I gave birth to Ballerina Project Venice that takes place in Venice, but Venice is not only the historical center, which we all know and the the world admires, it also includes the more remote islands of the lagoon and the mainland of Marghera and Mestre. Each of these realities, although belonging to the same municipality, has completely different characteristics and needs: Venice is a city rich in art and history, while the mainland has been and still is - albeit less these days- home to industries and businesses. If the original setting remains focused on the contrast between the subject and the location, the direction taken by this project intends to address another challenge: in a city world known as a work of art ‘tout court’, the photos are shot in entirely unexpected locations and certainly not visually attractive.
Beyond the aesthetic related to photography, what this project wants to do is to attract the viewer's attention to places that are affected by decay, abandonment or depopulation, even though they are located in one of the most beautiful and famous cities in the world. The aim is therefore to focus on the possible recovery of urban areas still full of potential, that I developed through work in symbiosis with dancers of classical and contemporary dance, which have voluntarily posed for Ballerina Project Venice.
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