Photographer Mário Cravo Neto has placed the Royal Ballet dancers in poses that are neither fixed ballet positions nor balanced poses. We do not see them in character, but in their physical presence — as lines and shapes, almost like sculptures.

In April 2000, Cravo Neto came to Copenhagen and met the dancers of the Royal Danish Theatre, whom he portrayed over the course of two weeks. The project resulted in both a book and an exhibition at Frederiksborg in the autumn of 2000. The photographs have now once again been brought out from the museum archives.

In these portraits, Neto works with movement and stillness, line and form, light and shadow. Cravo Neto’s photographs possess a sculptural quality, exploring the boundaries of the classical portrait as he brings us extremely close to arms, muscles, hands, and legs.

See the photo series in the photo gallery on the 3rd floor.