The ballet of print

Print Solutions

Canon recently teamed up with the Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) and professional photographer Clive Booth, to raise awareness of the BRB’s groundbreaking medical research into Relative Energy Deficiency in Dance (RED-D), through a compelling photographic print exhibition at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. Demonstrating print’s power to move, the exhibition was premiered in the UK Pavilion and featured high impact, large format prints of photographs of BRB dancers. Taken by Clive Booth, the photographs capture the varied emotions of the dancers – joy, relief, elation, as well as exhaustion – moments after they have come off stage, giving rise to the exhibition’s name: The Silence After Applause.

Relative Energy Deficiency in Dance (RED-D) is a potentially serious health condition that can impact the physical and mental health of dancers. It stems from an energy imbalance that occurs when the body lacks the fuel needed for the intense physical demands of elite level dance. Led by its clinical director, Dr Nick Allen, the Birmingham Royal Ballet had started research into RED-D with the aim of developing, over time, a biological passport that would track physiological changes, offering insights into overall health while identifying potential risks to both current performance and long term wellbeing.

The opportunity then arose for the BRB to present its research at Expo 2025, as a goal of the event is to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. From the BRB’s perspective, the timing was ideal as the company was scheduled to tour Japan; the question then arose about how it was going to present the research. Enter Clive Booth, stage left.

Clive Booth, a Canon ambassador professional photographer and filmmaker, had previously worked with the BRB on a number of projects and, at that time, he was making an immersive film with a view to making ballet accessible to a neurodivergent audience who couldn’t ordinarily go to live theatre. He then had an idea for a different approach, as he explained, ‘We were in the rehearsal studio where four ballerinas were dancing in a beautiful, synchronised performance, which appeared completely effortless. Yet when they stopped, it was clear from their breathlessness and perspiration that it had required a huge amount of effort and it occurred to me that I could better capture that ‘silence after the applause’ with still photography.’

Tom Rogers, creative content producer at the Birmingham Royal Ballet and a former company dancer of 18 years, quickly saw a way to link the two. ‘A focus of Expo is health and well being, so the medical research that we had done was an ideal fit in itself,’ he said. ‘Then Clive had the idea for ‘The Silence After Applause’, so I thought that blending the two would be a great way to showcase and communicate the impact of RED-D and our groundbreaking research into the condition. Through the exhibition at Expo 2025, we have been able to highlight the medical advancements supporting our dancers’ mental and physical wellbeing, while bringing attention to the often unseen toll of their relentless pursuit of perfection.’

Capturing the images of the dancers as they came off stage was challenging as Clive had to shoot in near darkness, while knowing that the images would be printed in very large format and needed to show every subtlety. He also had only 15 seconds to take each portrait shot before the dancers had to move on. However, thanks to his skill behind the lens and the quality of the photographic equipment itself – the latest Canon EOS R5 MKII camera with EOS RF series 50 mm and 35 mm hybrid lenses – the resulting series of images produced by Clive powerfully reflect the emotional impact of a performance on the dancers. 

Using Canon imagePrograf Pro series large format printers, the images were then printed up to 1.6 metres long on one of Hahnemühle’s latest media innovations, Bamboo Gloss Baryta, a paper made from 90% bamboo and 10% cotton fibres. The high quality Canon Lucia Pro pigment inks ensured exceptional colour vibrancy and deep, characterful blacks, ideal for reproducing the striking, fine art portraiture. Selected images were also produced with elevated, tactile print on a Canon Arizona flatbed printer, ensuring that the imagery and story were also accessible for visually impaired visitors to Expo.

Stuart Rising, head of graphic arts at Canon UK and Ireland, commented: ‘This project is one of the best examples I have seen of using imagery and large format print to tell a powerful story. I am thrilled that we were able to bring our print expertise, alongside collaborative partners like Hahnemühle, to ensure that the outcome of the final exhibit met and even exceeded expectations. By using large format print in this way as a communication medium, BRB and the team have been able to maximise the impact of the photography in an engaging and thought provoking way, raising awareness of the research through the art of visual storytelling and making a complicated medical issue far more approachable.’

Speaking about the project and how it has changed his perspective on print for visual arts communications, Tom Rogers said: ‘Full disclosure, [before this project] print isn’t something that I had ever dealt with much, but these are amazing works of art! For a ballet company, we had never explored telling our story through print before because we are a visual art form, so it is video and live performances, but print has allowed us to tell a much more holistic story of who we are as an organisation and what we are about as people.’

With the last words going to Clive Booth, he said: ‘I have long been fascinated by ballet, which is, for me, the ultimate art form. From the perspective of an audience, dance can appear effortless, perfect, beautiful, magical, moving and mesmerising. But stand in the wings and there’s another story to be told. Thanks to Birmingham Royal Ballet, I have been given unique access to shoot the portraits of dancers just seconds off stage. It has been great to see how ‘The Silence After Applause’ is helping raise awareness of the company’s world first research into the physical and mental wellbeing of the dancers.’