My paintings of dancers might seem like nothing more than beautiful imagery. However more than just representations of dancers, they are narratives of the unseen emotional realities behind each dancer’s beauty. Dance has profoundly shaped my life, instilling resilience, testing my emotional limits, and teaching me the power of vulnerability. These paintings are my way of sharing what lies beneath each graceful movement.

In my work, I focus on capturing fleeting, raw moments that define a dancer’s life: the stillness before stepping onstage or the joy of moving through time. Despite dance often being presented as a world of perfection, my own experience taught me that behind the polished performances are complex emotions and untold struggles. Humanity, strength, and fragility lie behind a dancer’s every step and gesture.

Through my paintings, I challenge the viewer to see beyond the apparent beauty and into the dancer’s inner world. Their bodies inspire me not only for the aesthetic beauty but for its ability to express vulnerability, doubt, and perseverance. Each piece I create begins with a connection, often sparked by a photograph or memory, that mirrors my own emotional experiences.

Dance is a world of dualities: the beauty that audiences see and the struggles that happen behind the curtain. Depicting these moments allows me to connect with the tension between vulnerability and strength and to the outer performance versus the inner reality. What might look like a “pretty picture” is, in truth, a reflection of endurance, perseverance, and the humanity that underpins every graceful movement.

My work invites viewers to see dance not just as an art form, a performance, but as an expression of the dancer’s soul, and to see the resilience and the multifaceted nature of the human story behind the dancer’s art.