The ‘Ballerinas’ Series captures the fascination with beauty in an extremely poetic, subtle and – literally and figuratively – fleeting way that the Artist derives from the extraordinary art of dance. The emotions seen here are usually set in a fascinating and carefully selected environment. The surroundings are not obvious, sometimes shrouded in fog or otherwise allowing the mysticism of the captured moment to be conveyed. As always with Radek, light plays an important role, and the artist uses various techniques with his characteristic ease. Ballet dancers are usually in the foreground, although they just as often complete a vision that focuses mainly on the fascinating surroundings (for example, in the photograph Arbalete). Space is of great importance to Radek, hence the impression of a partial connection between the ballerinas and another of the artist’s series, Abandoned Beauty. This is entirely justified, as several works can be found in both the first and second series. The dominant, but by no means the only, ballet technique used here is pointe, which is briefly described below.

The pointe technique originated from the desire for dancers to appear weightless, detached from the surface like majestic butterflies. Although both men and women are capable of pointe dancing, it is mostly performed by women. In order to develop the strength and technique needed for this, intensive training and years of practice are required to reach perfection. It is part of classical ballet in which the ballerina supports her entire body weight on the tips of her fully extended feet.