Dancing means performing a series of movements in accordance to the music. Photographing means capturing a rapid and vanishing point of time. Considering this aesthetic crystallization, photographing a dance step means fixing this specific moment of movement in a sublime contradiction which becomes abstraction. With these concepts in mind, Massimo Gatti took some photos to Eleonora Abbagnato, the premiere danseuse at Paris Opéra Garnier. They have been shown in the prestigious gallery Robilant+Voena in Milan where they represent an impressionist act in contemporaneous perspective. As happened in the past, when the impressionism looked for the impression of the light on a specific and chosen object, today Massimo Gatti decides to suggest the gentleness and softness embodied by Eleonora, without the use of flash but taking advantage of the natural light, because natural is the dancing reality proposed in an essential and pure visual perception. These shootings represent an important turning point in the ‘artist path’ into the contemporary photo, considering that Massimo renders in a very personal way the heritage of Degas dancers through the integration of an imposing use of the camera.

All the images are courtesy of press office