‘Megan LeCrone, New York, 2024’ by Matthew Brookes
Pointe technique, which involves a ballet dancer supporting their body weight on the tips of their toes, can take years of work, dedication and often pain to master. What isn’t usually covered in any ballet school’s formal classical training, though, is how to do that impressive feat while perched on top of a taxi in the traffic-filled streets of New York City.
“I was in New York for a week photographing dancers from the New York City Ballet,” says photographer Matthew Brookes. “For this photo, I was with dancer Megan LeCrone. I hailed down a cab and gave the driver 50 bucks and said, ‘Can she go on top of your cab?’ and he said, ‘Yeah. But give me 60 bucks.’
“Nothing was really planned – it just happened. You’re dealing with dancers – people whose bodies are their lives. Their bodies are precious. You can ask them to do something, but you never know if they’ll say yes. But this girl was, like, ‘I’m going to do anything for the pictures. What do you want me to do?’ I said, ‘Will you get on top of a cab?’ and she said, ‘Yep, I’ll do it.’”
‘Daniel Camargo, New York, 2024’ by Matthew Brookes
For his latest book Expression Of Freedom: Through The World Of Dance Brookes was keen to take dancers out of their comfort zones.
“One of the themes with this book is about breaking the rules in dance,” he explains. “There are certain things about ballet that are very rigid. I was staying at the Chelsea Hotel and for another photo I had the dancer stand on the edge of a balcony. It was about taking dancers out of their environment, making it a bit more fun, a bit more daring, and giving it a bit more humour.”
Brookes is best known for fashion work, and portraits of celebrities including Adam Driver, Dame Helen Mirren, David Beckham, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and King Charles III – images that have appeared in titles including Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ and the New York Times.
‘Charlize Theron, Breitling campaign, 2021’ by Matthew Brookes
He has, though, explored dance before. His 2015 book Les Danseurs focused on male dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet. Expression of Freedom has a much broader scope, with photos not only from Paris but also Brazil, Mexico, Los Angeles and South Africa, using a range of styles from ballet to street dance to Japan’s Kabuki theatre.
Around a decade of working with dancers has given Brookes a deep appreciation of the lifestyle. “It’s about determination and grit,” he says. “It takes crazy, crazy commitment to do what they do. It’s about toughness. What the dancers put themselves through … It’s a true passion. It’s not a job people get into because they’re going to be paid well. Dancers usually have a thankless job, but it’s all about being on-stage.
“I found conversations with different dancers interesting. One link I found is that they just love to be other people – they love to be on-stage and to become different characters every day. When they finally retire, that is the hardest obstacle – to become themselves and be that one person every single day.”
‘King Charles III, formerly the Prince of Wales, 2018’ by Matthew Brookes
Expression of Freedom: Through the World of Dance by Matthew Brookes is published by Damiani at £45. Discover more work by Brookes in the October-December 2024 issue of the RPS Journal.
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‘Matthew Ball, London’ by Matthew Brookes