YAKOVLEVA IRA

BY JACLYNTRUSS

YiYakovleva Ira was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1986 with a beautiful leg line, natural flexibility and an innate sense of music. Because of this, her parents made a decision that she is most grateful for—they immersed her in the strong and elegant world of ballet.

“Beautiful and complicated at the same time, they had shown me my path,” says Ira, “I love the art of ballet dance with all my heart. It gives me the freedom to express all of my emotions and even to tell a whole story using only the plasticity of the body.” After graduating from the Kiev State Choreographic College in 2005, Ira began dancing at the Saint-Petersburg Ballet Theatre, which delivers classical Russian ballet to audiences worldwide. With intense physical exertion, serious competition and little downtime, it takes extraordinary dedication to experience the honour of dancing on such legendary stages. During her eight years of professional ballet training, Ira attributes her success not only to her personal resolve and devotion to the art but also to the astute capabilities of the ballet masters with which she trained.

“My teachers have instilled a sense of beauty, an awareness of posture and movement, a delicate perception of music, and the psychology of human emotions and feelings within the dance itself. Ballet has taught me the ability to work hard and have endurance and persistence in achieving my goals,” says Ira.

Despite her love of ballet, when Ira became pregnant with her first daughter, she was no longer able to dance. Her artistic and creative nature begged for a new outlet, and she found it behind the lens, capturing the physical expression of beauty that she herself knew so well. Trading in her ballet slippers for a Canon 5D Mark 2, Ira embarked on a new journey as a professional ballet photographer.

“Now those qualities I learned from dance translate to my work as a photographer, producing exquisite results,” explains Ira, “Step by step I’m progressing on this path. Studying, various forms of shooting with very different people and artists: organizing, planning, post-production and most importantly—a great result. It all requires a high level of concentration and helps me to grow professionally.”

Ira now travels the world, capturing the astounding talents of renowned dancers on famous stages, studios and landmarks across the globe. As her ballet models are dancers that hail from different theatres around the world, each image is infused with its own unique aura.

“As a professional, I can show the beauty of ballet in my work—I feel and see how to create the perfect movement within the image and it allows me to better communicate my ideas to the models,” says Ira.

Ira’s favourite model, the one gracing our cover and other images seen here, is her sister, Elizaveta Cheprasova, a soloist for the Hungarian National Ballet Company State Opera.

“I have had an exceptional and very strong bond with my sister since we were children. We feel each other perfectly and this contributes to seamless results when she is in front of my lens. I admire her and I am proud of her. We support and inspire each other - she is my miraculous muse,” gushes Ira. Ira has many plans for the future including new projects, people, ideas, exhibitions and of course, travel. While there are many countries on her docket, the one that excites her the most is Spain, and we can be sure that Ira’s time there will be spent creating her heart-stopping photographs with a spectacular Spanish twist.

Ira remarks, “The passion and grace of flamenco dancing fascinate me. It is a completely different side of the art of dance compared to classical. I’m sure it would be very refreshing to work with flamenco dancers as it would be uncharted territory for me. I not only wish to test my skills in an unknown arena, but also to feel the full strength of this marvellous and passionate world of dance.”

Ira’s innate understanding of her subjects is breathtakingly apparent. Her intuitive knowing of where each movement peaks allows her to capture each motion at its pinnacle moment, forever freezing it in a frame of fluid, unadulterated beauty. Her skill as a photographer is but a reaction to her insight - her subject dances, a crescendo in motion, waiting for Ira’s climatic click of her camera, composing an entire opera within a single image.

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