Counter Pointe: Perceiving the Body in Ballet Photography

Installation view, Counter Pointe: Perceiving the Body in Ballet Photography, Tang Teaching Museum, 2004

Rebecca Pristoop ‘04, a dance and art history student, organized this exhibition as an interdisciplinary exploration in representation and perception of the human body. Prompted by John Coplan’s photography which challenges society’s conception of beauty, and her research of the more conventional photos of Skidmore’s Robert Tracy Collection of Dance Photography, this exhibition provokes a discussion concerning perception, body image, and objectification. Pristoop looks at how subjective-perception depends considerably on the chosen composition of the creator, moreover, through the gaze of the viewer, bodies become objectified.

Counter Pointe: Perceiving the Body in Ballet Photography presents one wall with the dance photographs in their entirety and another wall where Pristoop manipulated the photographs by revealing only select parts, inspired by Skidmore Luce Visiting Fellow Fred Wilson in his cropping of historic photographs. Extracting the bodies from their context, this fragmentation abstracts and objectifies the figures.

Counter Pointe: Perceiving the Body in Ballet Photography is curated by Rebecca Pristoop ‘04, Skidmore College. This exhibition is made possible through a Student Opportunity Fund awarded by the Dean of Studies. Special thanks to Gretchen Wagner, Ian Berry, Elizabeth Karp, Chris Kobuskie, Helaina Blume, Steve Dinyer, Robert Tracy, Jocelyn Tunney and the support of friends and family.