MIAMI — The dancer in the photograph isn’t frozen in time. Her body is the source of light on a darkened stage, and with a blur of muscle, she’s dancing straight at the viewer who has stepped into her moment.
The image is one of roughly two dozen by dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, himself the subject of many photographs, in a solo exhibition of his photography opening today at the Gary Nader Art Centre in Miami. In “Dance This Way,” Baryshnikov turns the camera on ethnic, hip-hop, ballet, modern and popular dances around the world.
The show’s title, Baryshnikov said, is meant to be both commanding and descriptive. He wants the dancers to move toward his camera, and he wants to show what he sees in their dances.
“I’m interested in focusing on body parts, the movements which really one cannot notice in the audience,” said Baryshnikov, 64.
He knows what he’s looking for, after all, and he can get a backstage pass anywhere in the world. The Latvian-born dancer, who electrified ballet in the Soviet Union before defecting to dance with major ballet companies worldwide, is now artistic director of the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.
