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For the past 17 years, New York-based photographer Dane Shitagi has been snapping ballet dancers in different locations around the world to captivating effect. Now with over one million Instagram followers, his beautiful Ballerina Project has truly enraptured people’s attention and hearts.
The premise of Ballerina Project was simple, photograph ballerinas in “harmony with their environment.” Whether it’s against iconic skylines in the most romantic city, colourful street art or tranquil park vistas, Shitagi takes time to choose his diverse sites in which the ballerina can connect and animate in a striking way.
Starting with Hawaii, Shitagi soon expanded his locations within the US to New York, Boston, Toronto, Miami and San Francisco. And has since started to work in London, Paris and South America. Bringing ballet to the streets like this has really resonated with Shitagi’s social followers who can also sign up for exclusive access to images and limited edition prints on the project’s website.
“The crafts of dance and photography are truly upheld on both ends of the creation of the Ballerina Project,” states Shitagi, whose stunning muses are a mixture of corps de ballet, soloists and principal dancers from world class dance companies including San Francisco Ballet, Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet.
Find below a selection of our favourites from the extensive on-going archive.