English National Ballet dancer Anaïs Chalendard prepares to make her entrance and meet her prince on stage during The Nutcracker at The Coliseum Theatre in London.

Anaïs Chalendard prepares to make an entrance during The Nutcracker. © Patrick Baldwin 2011

Click on an image and be taken to my Photoshelter archive to see more and buy an image if you wish. Happy browsing.

The secret is out. After hiding for days undetected in a flight case backstage at English National Ballet in order to obtain this world exclusive photograph I can now reveal how English National Ballet store their dancers at night! I always wondered why nobody ever saw them leave by the stage door after the show. Now we know. They hang them up in the wings along with their costumes! They are all there like bats hanging. The only difference is they are not upside down.

I was horrified and appalled until I realised that the dancer pictured Desiree was smiling. It actually makes them happy. Amazing.

More secrets as and when I can bring them. Its a dangerous job but somebody has to do it.

Dancer Desiree Ballantyne in "storage" for the night. © Patrick Baldwin 2010. All rights reserved.

These images are of Guiseppe Picone and Rebecca Sewell of English National Ballet performing in Giselle. Taken during a performance at the Manchester Palace Theatre. There is a bridge running across the width of the stage just behind the proscenium arch. I worked for English National Ballet for 12 years or so on the stage crew so I know my way around the backstage of a theatre. On this occasion I went up after the interval and waited. I had one camera and a 70-200 lens with the lens hood taped up. Dropping anything at all at this point would have been a terminal career move to say the least and of course could have seriously injured one or both of the dancers. An SLR and zoom lens dropping from 35 ft would be very painful I’m sure.

I was shooting on transparency in those days, around 1995 I think. Ektachrome T320 tungsten balanced pushed at least one stop if not two. Wide open at 2.8 and probably a 30th of second with me wedged into the catwalk. At least they were not running around dancing so a slow shutter speed was ok and framing was easy. No bracketing or “chimping” the screen on the back to check everything.

It looks like Guiseppe is looking straight at me but he cannot see me because there is a bar full of lights between me and him. I was a little disconcerted though. The last thing I want to do is distract a dancer when he is supposed to be dying!

In those pre digital camera days I was scanning everything to get a digital file although the only retouching on these images is to take out a seam in the dance floor lino.

© Patrick Baldwin 1995. All rights reserved.

© Patrick Baldwin 1995. All rights reserved.

Begona Cào, dancer with English National Ballet waits in the wings, on the left, before making her entrance, on the right. These photographs were taken during her second performance of English National Ballet’s production of Manon at the London Coliseum theatre. When I spoke to her about her debut performance she said she had cherished every moment and it was what she had been waiting for from the start of her career. What impressed me was that no nerves got in her way. She just enjoyed every moment.

More of Begona and the whole of the production can be seen in my Photoshelter gallery.

Begona Cào waits in the wings then makes her entrance. © 2009 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.

This image is from English National Ballet’s new production of Manon which can be seen at the London Coliseum Theatre  from the 2nd of January 2009. This is the best looking show visually that ENB have ever produced as far as I’m concerned.

The transcendentally beautiful Begona Cào who is the subject of this picture is making her debut in the role on Saturday the 3rd of January 2009 in the matinee at 2.30.

Call me a big fan!

Begona Cào. © 2008 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.

Every year I photograph the final year students at Central School of Ballet to produce their audition images. The shoot takes two days and at the end the students choose eight images that they will send to professional companies in the hope of gaining an audition.

These are dancers at the very start of their professional careers and it is often their first experience of a dance photoshoot. It is interesting to watch their reactions when the image appears on the computer screen. It varies from horror at where their left hand is, for instance,  to wonderment that they really can do the splits in mid air. It’s the first time they have seen themselves in the air. Through a process of looking at the shot and then listening to corrections offered by the teacher the dancer strives to arrive at a perfect position. Here are two images that hopefully will get those dancers auditions. Helen and Stephanie can be contacted through Central School of Ballet

Helen Brunson takes flight. © 2008 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.

Stephanie Thomas on point. © 2008 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.

© Patrick Baldwin

“What happens next…?” English National Ballet dancer Belinda Hernandez looks around during a performance of Alice in Wonderland to make sure she is doing the right thing. Belinda is Australian and has the broadest accent to match except that her mother is Spanish and when Belinda speaks Spanish there is absolutely no trace of her Australian accent. Extraordinary to hear. As far as I know this is the only ballet production ever to feature square tutus!