Pole dancing is an urban ballet, a language of strength and fluidity spoken in the shadows of the night. Often misunderstood, it straddles the line between art and sport, demanding both extreme athleticism and expressive artistry. With this series, I seek to bring pole dancers into the light—both metaphorically and literally—by recontextualising their movement within the architectural fabric of New York City.

Collaborating with the foremost pole dance studio in the United States, I worked with elite performers to explore the interplay between body and structure, improvising on scaffolding, lampposts, and other urban elements. These ephemeral interventions transform the city into an open-air stage, where movement challenges gravity and redefines our perception of space.

By pushing the boundaries of athletic performance and the expressive potential of the human form, this series reframes pole dance as a powerful artistic medium—one that is as sculptural as it is kinetic. This project will debut in the spring at Body & Pole Studio in New York. – Jean-Yves Lemoigne