Making Lines: Welcome

Welcome to Making Lines. Inspired by the Ballerina Project (New York) and the beautiful city of Durban, this project aims to revive an almost forgotten art form at street level. Making Lines brings to the fore an art form – ballet – that has a certain instability in the city of Durban. In contrast to the “Ballerina project” (New York), which endeavours to highlight the “heart and emotions” of ballet dancers, Making Lines has a more material purpose: that is, to create a fleeting moment of the dancer in our everyday surrounds. The dancer simultaneously becomes of the city and distinct, in an attempt to re-energise a public that no longer enjoys a resident ballet company. The images that create a photographic trail of dancers throughout Durban, therefore, not only highlight the plight of young dancers in our city, but also open a dynamic space in which we can re-conceptualise the dancer within the city.

The title, ‘Making Lines’, refers to the various ‘lines’ dancers create as a result of the correct positioning of their body. This alignment includes not just the body, but the eyes, chin, and even the fingertips. It is this same ‘line’ that also exudes feeling, thus creating infinite lines of expression and affirmation of a dancer within the architectural ‘lines’ of the city. The dancer and the city are then connected through the medium of photography.

With its rich history and diverse culture, Durban is certainly the perfect playground for this project. This collaboration of art forms brings new possibilities to people who, having carved their own lines within the limits of the city, will discover infinite ‘lines’.