s. ghera

The project "DANCER INSIDE" represents my personal work and contains images of dancers from different countries, companies and academies, taken over several years (from 2007) during rehearsals and classes, backstage, outdoor locations focused in architectural and historical contexts.
I am an architect based in Rome Italy (born in 1959) involved in photography since my very early age, following my father on location shoots. Soon after I started to shoot myself during my frequent journeys around the world, developing photos in my little dark room in my basement. Since then, the way images magically appear on the white sheets it is something I find absolutely fascinating. Lately I came back to photography exploring the digital world and improving my technical skills, concentrating my attention on the use of lighting, which I consider one of the most creative aspects of photography. Under this regard it has been very helpful a course taken in Rome at the Scuola Romana di Fotografia. In this occasion I developed this work focused on the world of dance. This subject has attracted me ever since. Now at last I decided to dedicate a web site to this theme to share my work with everyone interested in dance. Even though movement is considered to be the essence of dance, what I find most interesting are the “static “ angles and lines of the dancers I shoot. I see them very close to architectonic details and lines. I also pay attention to the graphic and perspective elements, not just for the background but also for the main subject.
My interest is focused on getting close to the dancer as “a person”, capturing the hard work at the barre, the sweat, the expression of exausted eyes, exploting lines and details during the exercise and the moment of relax. In short I am much more interested to the daily training of a dancer rather than the performance on stage. Usually I like to position my subjects on a side rather than in the center of the frame, giving great importance to the background even when it is just abstract; I also instinctively put the subject on a tilting horizon which offers more options to look at the scene.
Then there is the compositional side, twinned with architecture, which leads the dancer to fit in structural and architectural contexts (scales, buildings, abandoned structures, etc..) That represent the elements of contrast and harmony at the same time and fit in a landscape identifier of the place. One of the tools of this compositional work is the widespread use of wide angle lenses, which give a strong deformation of the subject and the background, standing out hands, feet, architectural details, sometimes up to tilt angles and lose visual orientation . Vertical and horizontal lines blur and the horizons are rotated according to criteria absolutely instinctive.
This is another element that generates my photographs, the pure instinct of composition, where a photograph can be read either horizontally or vertically, according to the subjective views of the beholder and not dictated by the technical knowledge of dance. Its important to stress this instinct that guides me in the interpretation of the lines generated by a dancer, although not peculiar notions about dance and its history.
I have been photographing dancers around Europe (mostly in Madrid, London, Rome, Berlin, Paris, Florence, etc.), United States (New York, Albany) and Russian Federation (Saint-Petersburg).
The project "DANCER INSIDE": was shown in several exhibitions:

1. Roma, Galleria La Pigna, Palazzo del Vicariato (in center of Roma but inside the Vatican State) Personal exibition
January 24th 2010 to february 2nd 2011;
2. Madrid, Estay, Calle Hermosillo 14 (barrio Salamanca) Personal exibition
January 31st 2010 to february 19th 2011;
3. Roma, Galleria La Pigna, Palazzo del Vicariato, Collective exhibition for the calendar of ITALIA-RUSSIA events 2011
February 5th 2011 to 20th 2011;
4. Saint-Petersburg, Nonconformist Art Center PUSHKINSKAYA-10, Personal exhibition
July 2nd 2011 to August 31st 2011; this exhibition was supported from The Italian Institute of Culture in Saint-Petersburg;
5. Moscow, restaurant Isola Pinocchio and Hotel Radisson, Personal exhibition
October 13th to 30th 2011;
6. Roma, "Torretta Valadier", an historical site in the oldest bridge of Roma (roman bridge), managed from Municipality,
Personal exhibition - November 28th 2011 to November 23rd 2011;

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

7. Tel Aviv, Gallery floor of Azrieli Center, Collective exhibition "The Swan Lake Project"- March 8th 2012 till June 8th;
8. Saint-Petersburg, Capella gallery by Concert Hall - embankment of Moyka 20 (near Winter Palace of Hermitage) Personal exhibition
June 4th 2012 till end of June;
9. Berlin, Franzosischer Dom (Gendarmenmarkt Platz), Personal exhibition from August 22nd for approx. 6 months; this exhibition is
supported from the Italian Institute of Colture in Berlin;


Photographic works on course:
1. Staatlische Ballettschule Berlin 2011-2012;
2. Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Rome 2011-2012;


You have here some links about the exhibitions:

http://www.architettiroma.it/architettura/notizie/13837.aspx

http://www.danzainvideo.it/new/index.php?option=com_oziogallery2&view=04carousel&Itemid=16

http://italiacollection.ru/index.php?id=119 (in russian)

http://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2011/07/02/foto/dancer_inside-18540861/1/

http://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2011/07/02/foto/dancer_inside-18540861/

http://www.iicsanpietroburgo.esteri.it/IIC_SanPietroburgo/webform/SchedaEvento.aspx?id=284

http://www.mediascena.it/

http://www.scuolaromanadifotografia.it/senzacategoria/dancer-inside-2/

http://www.torrettavaladier.org/dancer-inside-di-simone-ghera/1770

http://www.vignaclarablog.it/2011111016819/simone-ghera-la-danza-classica-in-un-click/