Ballet Rehearsal

These photographs are an homage to my father, who was born in St. Gallen, Switzerland. They were made in December 2003, during the public rehearsals for the Nussknacker Ballet that the Tanzkompanie Theater in St. Gallen, conducted by Philipp Egli, organized in view of their 2004 calendar. The rehearsal was an opportunity to study the grace, power, and expression of movement; to understand the effort put into perfecting every move and coordinating the motional relations between the performers; and get an intimate look into the practice of this noble art. It has also allowed me to study the tension between performance and photography: as the camera freezes every moment in time, it preserves single and transitory instants, yet creates the tangible evidences of the numerous efforts that make the beauty of a movement.