The Bolshoi Theater ballet dancers – Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Yekaterina Shipulina, Maria Alexandrova and Svetlana Zakharova – through the lens of a French cinema star. Vincent Perez, an actor and film director, presents in Moscow his new photography project entitled “The Bolshoi”.
By: Armen Apresyan, Ballet stars in Vincent Perez’s “Bolshoi” photo project (PHOTO), Every appearance of the actor Vincent Perez on cinema screen causes women's hearts to stop beating. He has created a whole gallery of romantic characters, from the brave soldier Christian de Neuvillette in “Cyrano de Bergerac” and the handsome officer Jean-Baptiste in “Indochina”, to the legendary Fanfan la Tulipe in the 2003 film with the same name. He has been lucky enough to star with the most beautiful ladies of French cinema: Emmanuelle Béart, Catherine Deneuve, Sophie Marceau and Isabelle Adjani. The 1995 film “Beyond the Clouds”, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni together with Wim Wenders, brought Perez to global fame. Perez has also participated in a 1996 Russian film in which he played the lead role in Pavel Lungin’s mafia film called “Lifeline”. Until recently, few people knew that Vincent Perez has been greatly interested in photography from since early childhood. For a while that passion was pushed to the back burner, but a few years ago it was rekindled. And finally now he was able to seize this opportunity to display his work to the public. Perez presented his new conceptual photography project entitle “The Bolshoi” at the Moscow Ru Arts Gallery. The photographs made by Perez show the stars of the Bolshoi Theater. Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Yekaterina Shipulina, Maria Alexandrova and Svetlana Zakharova are depicted in his photos. About 50 pictures are exhibited. The author clearly avoids working with the color: the majority of the exhibited works are black-and-white. According to Vincent Perez himself, the ballet dancers to him are perfect creatures, who connect ordinary people to the world of the divine. That is why he wants to understand, with the help of a camera, how it happens: to catch the moment when this miracle happens. While looking at the pictures exhibited at the show one finds oneself thinking that ballet is a dance, movement, and expression. But in the photographs by Vincent Perez, the performers turn into something like sculptures. The author himself says that while working on “The Bolshoi” project he tried to focus on three themes. The first of which were the reflections on masculinity and femininity: in some pictures some famous dancers are portrayed in somewhat unusual images, for example, capturing Nikolai Tsiskaridze wearing a tou-tou. The second theme is an attempt to catch the ideal leap. And the third theme is “The Swan Lake” behind the curtains. Vincent Perez portrays in his photos ballet life in its entirety: from the preparation of the dancer to the moment just before he enters the stage. Vincent Perez has great plans that extend beyond solely Moscow exhibitions. He also has plans to show his photography project “The Bolshoi” in other Russian cities. Source: Voice of Russia
