-

Blessed Are The Dancers, Blessed Is The Dionysian Pursuit

Featuring Los Angeles Ballet Via Issue 197, Rhythm is a Dancer

Written by

Photographed by

Warwick Saint

Styled by

Jyotisha Bridges

No items found.
Jonas wears FERRAGAMO shorts and talent's own footwear.

Ballet is, perhaps, the best metaphor for humanity’s bloody pursuit of perfection. Beneath the elegance of the seemingly floating dancer is the incessant, aggressive physicality, a demand on one’s body that is difficult to comprehend. Ballet is indeed an art form that relies almost entirely upon illusion, only given life after countless hours of class, study, and rehearsal.

See here, members of the Los Angeles Ballet—a company whose home city is familiar with such illusionary grandeur—a city that is all too familiar with the contrast between visual beauty and sometimes substantial pain.

Founded in 2004 by Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary, the Los Angeles Ballet brings to the city romantic, classical, neoclassical, and contemporary variations of the nearly 600-year-old performance art. In 2022, Melissa Barak joined the team as the company’s first-ever solo Artistic Director, where she leads LAB in city-wide performances at stages like from Santa Monica and Redondo Beach to Hollywood and Pasadena.

Left to right: Poppy wears GAURAV GUPTA dress and talent’s own footwear. Jonas wears FERRAGAMO pants and talent’s own footwear. Aviva wears FENDI dress and talent’s own footwear.

A born Angeleno, Melissa Barak is a critically acclaimed choreographer and previous professional dancer herself. Her work extends beyond an aesthetic vision for the ballet and spills over into the company’s cultural community efforts. With Power of Performance (POP!), the company’s educational arts program, the organization offers thousands of free tickets to the underserved in LA. They also founded A Chance to Dance (ACTD), which offers complimentary dance classes for people of any age.

Of the recent fire tragedy, Barak says, “Los Angeles is hurting, whether you have been directly affected by the devastating fires or not. Our city has changed, and we all feel that, and we grieve what has been lost. Los Angeles Ballet hopes to be able to offer some respite from all of the loss,” she continues, “and as a performing arts organization, we offer the space to create new special memories. We are looking forward to seeing audiences again at our upcoming production of Cinderella, as art really does help to heal, and amidst all of the destruction and chaos, hope and inspiration can be found in the house of a theater.”

Left to right: Julianne wears ANAMIKA KHANA corset and skirt and talent’s own footwear. Lilly wears CATHERINE REGEHR dress and talent’s own footwear.
Left to right: Aviva wears ANAMIKA KHANNA dress and talent’s own footwear. Paige wears GUAIAV GUPTA dress and talent’s own footwear. Poppy wears MILLA NOVA dress and talent’s own footwear. Julianne wears CATHERINE REGEHR dress and talent’s own footwear. Jonas wears FENDI pants and talent’s own footwear. Lilly wears CATHERINE REGEHR dress and talent’s own footwear.
Paige wears LOEWE dress and talent’s own footwear.
Left to right: Lilly wears SANDRO dress. Poppy wears GAURAV GUPTA dress. Jonas wears FENDI top. Aviva wears FENDI dress.
Left to right: Lilly wears SANDRO dress and talent’s own footwear. Julianne wears MOSCHINO dress. Paige wears MILLA NOVA corset and ANAMIKA KHANNA skirt. Poppy wears GAURAV GUPTA dress. Jonas wears FERRAGAMO top. Aviva wears FENDI top.
Left to right: Aviva wears ANAMIKA KHANNA dress. Julianne wears CATHERINE REGEHR dress and talent’s own footwear. Poppy wears MILLA NOVA dress and talent’s own footwear.
Left to right: Poppy wears GAURAV GUPTA dress and talent’s own footwear. Jonas wears FERRAGMO shorts and talent’s own footwear. Lilly wears SANDRO dress and talent’s own footwear. Julianne wears MOSCHINO dress and talent’s own footwear.
Left to right: Lilly wears CATHERINE REGEHR dress. Poppy wears GAURAV GUPTA dress. Aviva wears FENDI dress and talent’s own footwear. Julianne wears AKIRA dress and talent’s own footwear. Paige wears MILLA NOVA corset and ANAMIKA KHANNA skirt and talent’s own footwear.
Jonas wears FERRAGAMO shorts and talent's own footwear.
Left to right: Jonas wears FERRAGAMO shorts. Paige wears LOEWE dress and talent’s own footwear.  Lilly wears JEAN LOUIS SABAJ dress. Aviva wears ANAMIKA KHANNA dress. Julianne wears CATHERINE REGEHR dress. Poppy wears MILLA NOVA dress and talent’s own footwear.
Left to right: Jonas wears FENDI pants. Lilly wears SANDRO dress. Paige wears LOEWE dress. Aviva wears ANAMIKA KHANNA dress and talent's own footwear. Julianne wears CATHERINE REGEHR dress and talent's own footwear.
Left to right: Poppy wears MILLA NOVA dress and talent’s own footwear. Jonas wears FENDI pants and talent’s own footwear. Paige wears GUAIAV GUPTA dress and talent’s own footwear. Aviva wears ANAMIKA KHANNA dress and talent’s own footwear. Lilly wears CATHERINE REGEHR dress and talent’s own footwear.
Left to right: Aviva wears FENDI dress and talent’s own footwear. Poppy wears GAURAV GUPTA dress. Lilly wears SANDRO dress and talent’s own footwear. Jonas wears FERRAGAMO shorts. Julianne wears MOSCHINO dress. Paige wears MILLA NOVA corset and ANAMIKA KHANNA skirt.

Photographed by Warwick Saint

Styled by Jyotisha Bridges

Dancers: Aviva Gelfer-Mundl, Julianne Kinasiewicz, Lilly Fife, Paige Wilkey, Poppy Coleman, Jonas Tutaj

Hair: Barbara Lamelza

Makeup: Dee Daly at Opus Beauty

Grooming: Carolina Pizarro at CPH Productions

Production Assistant: Kayla Hardy

Styling Assistant: Iryielle Barrett

Location: Cherry Soda Studios

No items found.
No items found.
#
Rhythm is a Dancer, People, Fashion, Aviva Gelfer-Mundl, Jonas Tutaj, Julianne Kinasiewicz, Lilly Fife, Paige Wilkey, Poppy Coleman, Los Angeles Ballet, Ferragamo, Gaurav Gupta, Fendi, Anamika Khana, Catherine Regehr, Milla Nova, Sandro, Loewe, Moschino
PREVNEXT