St. Petersburg is an all-kind-of-arts city. And, first of all, it is a city of Russian Ballet Heritage. Here lives an extremely talented Russian ballet photographer, "Soul in Feet" project founder and professional ballerina, Darian Volkova.
"Giving people an opportunity to see behind the scenes of ballet through ballerina's eyes - that's what my photography art is about. As a viewer, you can see just one side of ballet, the world of beauty and lightness but ballet is more than the world - it's the universe." As a professional dancer, Darian often travels around the world with her company, and as a ballet photographer, she doesn't forget to take stunning pictures during tours. Darian has shot in the theaters from Russia to Iceland.
"My last destination was France. It was unforgettable! I always enjoy it, to work with ballet dancers from another country. They have different ballet dance school but we are still soulmates."
At home Darian takes beautiful photos of prima ballerinas of Mariinsky and Mikhailovsky and other theaters. She likes one-to-one shooting. It's maybe similar to the myth about Pygmalion and Galatea she's kind of a sculptor, and dancer is her creation she tries to make alive.
More info: darianvolkova.com | Facebook | Instagram
This post may include affiliate links.
I don't think this represents sadness...it's passion and dedication
For anyone wondering, she most likely has Joint Hypermobility Syndrome, a lot of ballet dancers and gymnasts do due to the extra flexibility given to joints. She also has a the best part of a lifetime of very dedicated training, which mayy be why she's as flexible as she is, but yes, JBS can be a very painful condition if the muscles aren't strong enough to compensate for the ligaments and tendons being too loose- bones start grinding together dislocations and slipped disks are common too.
It's good to see the reality behind the image,ballet is not just long arms and grace,the dancer's body gets so much pain over the years to perform all these moves,in my opinion it's too much.
The amount of hours she had to spend on achieving such a flexible pose payed off perfectly
Cant we just enjoy the damn pictures ? If you want to be good, real good, in anything (..) you need to work hard -blood sweath and tears.
What a beautiful photo, her tutu looks like it's made of feathers.
I've also noticed, after looking at all the pictures, that everyone is talking about the women, and what they go through. Yet when it's a man in the picture, they say things like: So strong....So powerful....etc. They go through the same training, and put their bodies through the same pain as the women do. Why are people not recognizing this??
What I think is basically awful is that there have been NO technical advances in the shoes whatsoever. NONE. The dancers, particularly those who dance in pointe shoes, are dancing on cardboard and cloth. It's c**p. There is no excuse for it, either.
the pict tells pain. we taste the their hurt as a sweet candy. just now i know their sacrifice to perform & entertain. Thumbs up.
Really great work, congratulations. If you want to promote it on the photography blog (blog.jmleclercq.com), contact me. It's totally free.
Wow. The pain they must go through for the enjoyment of others, who ever would had thought something so beautiful could be so devastating.
All I can think about is consumption ..the pain they must go through for the perfect leap... definition of of "beauty" these dancers dedicate their lives, bodies and souls for us to enjoy.. it is sooo beautiful.. it.. hurts....
This is so sad, we should feel sorry for them, but then again it is free will, their own choice. We should also feel sorry for the Chinese woman whoes feet get broken and bind up just to have small feet. What c**p that is.
sadly, i know all of this to be true. all of my friends are dancers, i was a gymnast, and my mother was a dancer
I've heard the toes/feet are damaged horribly, it's hard to believe people damage their body for an art form, regardless of how beautiful it may look to onlookers
Ballet -- masochism set to music. The human toes were not meant to bear the weight of the entire body. The turnout destroys the hip joints, and the entire body pays the price for starvation dieting.
What I think is basically awful is that there have been NO technical advances in the shoes whatsoever. NONE. The dancers, particularly those who dance in pointe shoes, are dancing on cardboard and cloth. It's c**p. There is no excuse for it, either.
the pict tells pain. we taste the their hurt as a sweet candy. just now i know their sacrifice to perform & entertain. Thumbs up.
Really great work, congratulations. If you want to promote it on the photography blog (blog.jmleclercq.com), contact me. It's totally free.
Wow. The pain they must go through for the enjoyment of others, who ever would had thought something so beautiful could be so devastating.
All I can think about is consumption ..the pain they must go through for the perfect leap... definition of of "beauty" these dancers dedicate their lives, bodies and souls for us to enjoy.. it is sooo beautiful.. it.. hurts....
This is so sad, we should feel sorry for them, but then again it is free will, their own choice. We should also feel sorry for the Chinese woman whoes feet get broken and bind up just to have small feet. What c**p that is.
sadly, i know all of this to be true. all of my friends are dancers, i was a gymnast, and my mother was a dancer
I've heard the toes/feet are damaged horribly, it's hard to believe people damage their body for an art form, regardless of how beautiful it may look to onlookers
Ballet -- masochism set to music. The human toes were not meant to bear the weight of the entire body. The turnout destroys the hip joints, and the entire body pays the price for starvation dieting.