Développé: Centre de Dansa de Catalunya
“Développé”, from the French, means “develop”, “unwrapped” or “unveil” and is a typical movement of classical ballet, but equally difficult to master. The term has its own technical definition within ballet but in this photographic report Développé reveals another side of Ballet: its human side.
Ballet is a performative art. In the show, the artist on stage lends his person to the work, turning himself into art, which only exists as long as the artist allows and reproduces it. But, until it is consummated in performance, ballet carries within itself an extensive and constant work of personal and collective effort. A human job.
Développé does not portray physical labor, nor is it a cliche document about the effort or the form and aesthetics of ballet. This report talks about the human, about the person, about what art inhabits and surrounds, about those who make it possible.
The moment that precedes the show is the moment of awareness, where the realization of what is going to be conceived culminates in the artists. The artist perceives that he is about to lend his person to the work. At this moment the apex of humanity that transforms the whole into a work of art is revealed.
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, an acceleration, that translates through you into action, and because there is only one of you at all time, this expression is unique.” Martha Graham.
"Développé" portrays the behind-the-scenes development of the Center de Dansa de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, between 2015 and 2020. The report is divided into three parts: the dressing rooms, the corridors and the stage. This project aims to reveal the extraordinary human work that precedes the art of ballet.
