Henry Leutwyler: Ballet 2nd Edition

In the winter of 2012, Henry Leutwyler was granted unprecedented access to the New York City Ballet by Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins. With the very same Leica that he used during my seminal years photographing the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, he ventured backstage and through the rehearsal studios, capturing moments ranging from the impossibly sublime to the beautifully mundane.

Most often, he was transfixed by the dancers in their solitary, unguarded moments. Hands meticulously breaking in pointe shoes, a dancer resting on the floor, the brief moment of stillness before the curtain rose —for him, those were the pictures that spoke eloquently of the beauty that he saw within the dancers of the Company.

The photographs in this book are an ode to the brilliant men and women of the New York City Ballet. For inviting us to places we’ve forgotten and for effortlessly transporting us outside of our everyday selves. More than just dance, ballet is an expression of human emotion in all its forms—love, despair, passion, hope and most importantly, joy.

Introduction by Peter Martins

Book design by Ruba Abu-Nimah, Eleanor Rogers & Kevin Ley (Water NYC)
408 pages / 22x30cm / 220 photographs / Clothbound hardcover
Published by Steidl April 2015, Second Edition (sold out at the publisher)
ISBN 978-3-86930-906-4
Limited quantities available
Signed by the author