PAS de PAINT
The Dance of the Paint
‘Ballet – something pure in this crazy world’ - Misty Copeland
I am excited to use my recent 3 year classical training in Florence Italy, to shine a light on the recent rise of Classical Dance in Nairobi. Ballet originated during the Italian Renaissance in the 15th Century and is now taking a form of its own in Africa.
Since returning to Kenya, I have been doing portraits and figurative paintings of wonderful Kenyan ballet dancers from the Origins Dance company in my studio at the Academy of Dance and Art, Karen Nairobi.
‘Pas’ – the classical term in Ballet meaning step, was the main journey of my brushstrokes in 2021 – capturing the effortless rhythm, grace and beauty of the dancers.
My traditional training in oil painting strives to capture their disciplined and perfected ballet steps where each dance tells a story. But, at other times I allow the paint a life of its own. Both dance and art have the power to put one’s mind in a state of complete freedom. Finding the balance of accuracy and abstraction, my pigments dance over the canvas, creating accidental marks, dripping paint and flashes of bright colours to echo the movement of the dancer.
