"PASSÉ began with a moment of unexpected vulnerability. During Walls' first ballet shoot in 2021 with ballerina Montana Rubin, a group of young triplets approached Rubin and were visibly moved. "That moment hit me," Walls recalls. "It reminded me that ballet, while celebrated for its perfection, is also deeply human. This project is about honoring that-about making the distance between performer and viewer disappear.""
"The photos feature combinations of a total of 60 dancers from companies such as New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, The Joffrey Ballet, Ballet East, as well as independent dancers. Walls used a 10 person crew for an eight-hour shoot to capture the images. Ballet is an art of illusion: the ballerinas must appear weightless and easily able to make precise movements but to do so takes great strength and relentless training."
The pop-up gallery presented 16 works in a storefront between Soho and Little Italy, arranged with a red carpet and an immersive red environment. The series displays ballerinas in white tutus arranged in geometric formations viewed from high above, producing cinematic, Busby Berkeley-like compositions. The project began after a 2021 ballet shoot when triplets reacted emotionally to a dancer, inspiring a focus on collapsing the distance between performer and viewer. The images feature 60 dancers from companies including New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, The Joffrey Ballet, Ballet East and independents. A ten-person crew executed an eight-hour shoot to stage these meticulously composed yet seemingly spontaneous scenes.
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