As part of Dancin’ Oxford 2020 The North Wall displays a collection of remarkable photos, Backstage At The Ballet. Colin Jones (b.1936) is one of Britain’s most significant photojournalists but he began his creative career dancing with The Royal Ballet. This dancer-turned-photographer focused his lens on fellow dancers as his subject matter, capturing hardworking bodies and backstage drama.
Jones’ backstage ballet photographs show not just the emotional intensity and beauty of ballet but also reveal the sustained physical exertion and discipline of a dancer’s life. Photographs from the 1960s include Britain’s iconic ballerina, Margot Fonteyn and the Soviet-born Rudolf Nureyev as well as later images from the 1990s, featuring English National Ballet star Tamara Rojo.
This is the first exhibition in a public gallery of Jones’ ballet photographs, featuring rarely-seen backstage images of British ballet from the late 1950s to the millennium.
With grateful thanks to Colin Jones, Topfoto and principal sponsor St Edward’s School.
Dates: Tuesday 11th February – Saturday 7th March
Venue: The North Wall Arts Centre, South Parade, Summertown, Oxford OX2 7JN
Tickets: Admission free.
Opening hours: The North Wall Gallery is open from Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm, and from 12pm – 4pm on Saturdays. Sundays & Bank Holidays: normally closed, except for theatre events.
Related talks:
Photographing Dance and Dancers, Tuesday 11th February, 5.30pm: further details here
The Collaborative Research of Science and Dance, Wednesday 4th March, 6.00pm: further details here
Find out more about Colin Jones here
Oxford Dance Writers 
February 25, 2020 at 2:14 pm
[…] Dancin’ Oxford‘s annual festival of dance this year provides a packed and varied programme of performances, workshops and discussions, something for everyone to enjoy, in a range of venues. Here for convenience is a list of all the performances: for details of practical workshops and taster sessions check out the Dancin’ Oxford website here or the links embedded to particular events. Look out too for Dance Audience Club sessions on 29th February, 3rd March and 6th March; find out more about these friendly opportunites to think and talk about the dance you see with others here. And if planning to take in several events, why not avail yourself of a Festival Pass which will get you reductions on ticket prices… find out about this here. A reminder too that the exhibition of photographs by Colin Jones, Backstage at the Ballet, continues to the end of the Festival; further details here. […]