Contractions, contortions, and movements… The choreographic body is a moving poem. How to capture its incessant fluctuations, its continuous metamorphosis? How to render the essence of movement through the still image? The Amsterdam photographer Erwin Olaf and the great Dutch choreographer Hans van Manen took up this challenge together, at the initiative of the former, who wanted to pay tribute to his friend and compatriot, now ninety years old.
The resulting series, Dance in Close-Up, shows the body in fragments of taut muscles: arched backs with protruding bones, clenched fists, bent toes, and outstretched spikes… Sharpened by the light, veins, muscles, and bones seem to be outcropping under shiny skin: “The incredibly precise lighting adds layers of tone, shadow, and depth.”
Erwin Olaf – Dance in Close-up – Hans van Manen by Erwin Olaf
Until December 31
Galerie Rabouan Moussion – 11, rue Pastourelle, Paris III
Credits : @Rabouan Moussion
Stéphanie Dulout