the Beautiful Dancer's Body

I know back in my prime of dancing days, I always wanted the perfect dancer's body. The kind that was lithe but not beefcake. The perfect combination of muscle tone with line. I can't say I ever got there, but I did have a few assets that I was proud of for all the time at the gym and on stage. Over years, I was always fascinated by those coffee table books that brought dance to the forefront. They were different than the normal male erotica publications that leaned more towards the gay rags! It wasn't objectification that I liked, but the convergence of both art and the beauty of the human condition.

So it is with a tinge of joy that I see this new photo exhibit by Nir Arieli and entitled Flocks. Instead of motion and artistry, it looks at these same bodies in a sense of rest. A still life of sorts. He notes that "dancers are like a special species" in the way they work as a community in a company with a shared vocabulary as well as a kinetic grace. It looks at dancers from Nederlands Dans Theater II, Batsheva Dance Company, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Ballet Hispanico, Pontus Lidberg Dance, Ailey II, and Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Check out a link to the images below. On display in New York at the Daniel Cooney Fine Arts Ctr.

Nir Ariele