Photographer Jesús Chapa-Malacara was looking for something to get him out of his artistic rut. A former dancer himself, he knew that dance photography was well-trodden ground.
But that didn't make him back away from the subject. Instead, he looked for a new perspective.
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Chapa-Malacara spoke with Mashable about the inspiration for his stunning photography and his process.
"I know first-hand how dancers spend a lot of time thinking about all the movement in between the poses that most people think of as dance," he said. "I set out to tell that story."
His goal with the photographs is to document as much of dance "as a language" as possible — each photograph capturing one movement within the glossary of ballet moves from beginning to end.
And he does so without using any Photoshop or special equipment: "I feel like this current age of photo manipulation, it’s begging us to push the boundaries of traditional photography to show it still offers new perspectives technically and artistically."
A Kickstarter campaign to help continue the project is offering a series of prints with a little something extra. Supporters can see all the prints come to life in video format when a special app is pointed at the images.
Prance down the page for a look at a few of the photos, including his first published work with break dancers, as well as Chapa-Malacara's official gallery.
Images: Jesús Chapa-Malacara