rachel papo.

thanks to mandy for posting about photographer rachel papo yesterday. her photos of russian ballerinas are so beautiful; holding a very eerie quality. i was especially drawn to them because when i was a young gymnast, i dreamed of being noticed by a russian coach and being sent to train in a soviet (or romanian) training centre to do gymnastics 7 hours a day, 7 days a week. seriously, this grueling schedule seemed romantic to me! this same series of photographs could have easily been captured of gymnasts, instead of dancers, though the ballet does innately behold more lofty dreamlike qualities + the costumes and ornate theatres create magic unto themselves.

p.s. for a time, i also wanted to study acting (the stanislavski technique) at the moscow art theatre school. it's not exactly the same, nor as physically demanding, but i do believe it would be amazing. it would have been the perfect combination of three of my passions out of high school- drama, language and travel.

 these two (above and below) are my favourites:

this one reminds me of when i worked in mexico at a resort where we put on extravagant stage shows every night. we had the most amazing backstage area filled with row upon row upon row of costumes hanging over head. oh, and the vanity mirrors with the big lightbulbs (!) and loads of makeup!