The air was thick with excitement and anticipation, the floor echoing silently with hundreds of little footsteps, and a trill of soft classical music floated across the stage!

This past weekend I had the chance to travel to Nyon, Switzerland to photograph behind-the-scenes pictures at a ballet school perfomance, and it was magical! The performers ranged through all skill levels – from beginner to professional – and through all ages – from just 2-years-old and into adulthood!

I photographed the dress rehearsal and then behind the scenes at the performances and I loved getting to hang out backstage with all the talented performers! There was truly something magical about getting to see the hustle that it took to create the whole of the show! Parents pulling their children’s hair back in buns, the students excitedly smiling at each other before going on stage, and the dedication of everyone as they came together, each contributing their part to the greater whole of the show!

The show was called “Four Seasons” and was a beautiful performance taking the audience through the span of all four seasons of the year, and showing the beauty of each one of them. Flowers, bees, birds, leaves, darkness, sunshine, harvesting, and many other characters and aspects of the seasons filled the stage throughout the show, and it was a beautiful symphony of color!

Attending this performance reminded me of one of my favorite poems by John Keats, To Autumn. One of my favorite lines from the poem reminds us that there is beauty in every season of life, and that there is happiness to be found and music to be heard always – in nature and in life!

Enjoy some backstage snaps from my trip to Piri Ballet in Nyon, Switzerland!

“Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too”