Brabanov has made his selection after years of research in the archives of Paris, St.Petersburg,Milan etc. His focus is less on dance, more on the photograph as the art-form. However, photography is the most appropriate medium for capturing dance movement, whether using fast or slow shutter speed. Unfortunately there is an absence of mainstream 20th/21st.cent.ballet and contemporary dancers, since he is more interested in the nature of the photograph than dance per se(hence 4 stars). There are a few traditional static poses of Mata Hari, Pavlova and Nijinsky in 'Le Spectre de la Rose (although Meyer's of him in L'Apres-midi d'un Faun are superior yet omitted). A wide range of photographers are represented: the colourful sfumato(blurring) of de Rose;the technical perfection of Bill Cooper;the surreal effects of Manuel Vason; the humour of Denis Darzacq; the visceral impact of Pascal Geli and the disturbingly political work of Clinton Fein. The freeze-frame technique of Lois Greenfield and Nina Alovert, suspending dancers in mid-air,is fun,aesthetic and impressive, like a well-airborne Baryshnikov sailing out of the frame. The wide range of choreographers includes Bejart, Petit, Bergman, Forsythe, Van Manen and Vinogradov with images of statuesquely paired dancers. Pina Bausch's vibrant and saucy beach scene with its clever use of towels is playful. Preljokaj and Gallotta create arresting and ambiguous compositions with piles of naked bodies. Matthew Bourne and Mats Ek give a refreshing slant on 'Swan Lake' with male swans, large,bald and wearing tutus in the case of Ek. And Trisha Brown has dancers apparently defying gravity. Many of these photographs celebrate the sculptural qualities of the human form; some have an enhanced erotic content; some use incongruous juxtaposition; others focus on colour, lighting, texture, costume, setting and symbols. Some derive from paintings and some are of 'dancers' using paint. In fact, later photographs move away from dance into performance art, 'non-dance', stagings specifically for camera and images void of the human form. Even with 122 photographs, Barabanov's task is unachievable but , using a broad definition of dance, he introduces us to a novel and eclectic collection of the possibilities of art/dance photography.
