TO DANCE IS TO LIVE
A serie of Pop Art depictions of the most famous and iconic ballet dancers in history. As I grow up in the ballet world I had the unique opportunity to meet and socialise privately with some of these legendary dancers like Natalia Makarova, Rudolf " Rudy " Nureyev, Ivan Nagy, Erik Bruhn, and Dame Margot Fonteyn. And Ballet is one of the most difficult and hard artforms to conquer as dancing is creating a sculpture that is visible only for a moment.
I met Rudy or " Nurre " as we called him in the family , many times both in Stockholm and in his home in London as my stepfather danced with him as his understudy and later became the director of the Swedish Ballet.
On Christmas evening in my home after a bootle of Russian Vodka he suddenly kissed me passionat , I was only 16 at the time. The last time I saw him was when he was very sick in Aids and he made his very last entrance on stage at the Opera in Paris saying goodbye. He was the greatest ballet dancer, and also an actor ( Valentino ) and a very strong character. I have a signed ballet shoe from Rudy as a memory of this part of my life. I have also met Ivan Nagi, Eric Brun in my home and I met Mrs Fonteyn a few times and have one of her ballet shoes signed. And ofause Natalia Makarova many times in Stockholm and danced with her in discotheque and she has bought my art to hang in her home in New York
Thomas Dellert