There’s a reason why backstage access is an enduring drawcard for popular culture audiences. Live performance, with its raw talent and thrilling unpredictability, is certainly entertaining, but behind the curtains, beyond the spotlight, is where a different version of a production’s truth is revealed. It’s a world of private rituals and camaraderie, built upon the shoulders of mortals just like us (though, of course, they are not “just like us”). Films and theatre productions such as “All About Eve”, “Moulin Rouge” and “The Producers” achieved critical success for offering such glimpses. “Black Swan” is another example, and more comparable (albeit darker) to the ballet dancer and photographer Drew Hedditch’s debut photography exhibition, “On Show”.
Hedditch, a coryphée with The Australian Ballet, has spent nearly 11 years on stage with the company. During his first season, in 2014, he purchased a ’70s rangefinder camera and taught himself how to use it. Hedditch’s friends and family served as candid subjects, until the ballet’s principal dancer Benedicte Bemet asked him to capture her transformation from Odile to Odette during her final performance of “Swan Lake” in 2023.
'The Fouttés", Benedicte Bemet, "Swan Lake", 2023. Photograph by Drew Hedditch.
Hedditch has been documenting the ballet’s backstage universe ever since. “Since I was younger I’ve been surrounded by ballet photographs of times gone by, dancers preparing and in the wings,” he explains. “I’ve felt that this has somewhat become my responsibility to capture the backstage moments of now, to share our stories and legacy and to hopefully inspire the next generation.”
Nan Goldin and Andy Warhol have proved artistic enduring influences for Hedditch. As has the American photographer George Platt Lynes, whose work is synonymous with the New York City ballet dancers of the 1930s and ’40s. “His avant-garde approach to ballet photography and art really inspired me to search for more within my surroundings, rather than just a beautiful technical ballet image,” says Hedditch.
Hedditch’s forthcoming exhibition, “On Show”, takes another step towards his self-imposed mantle. Featuring 36 black-and-white film stills captured on Hedditch’s Minolta X-700, the collection showcases the “immediate moments that aren’t seen from a paid ticket”.
'We meet at the Lake', "Swan Lake", 2023. Photograph by Drew Hedditch.
The captures invite viewers to experience the intimacy of the dressing rooms, in “moments of preparation that share mixed emotions of stress, excitement, disappointment and relief”, alongside more abstract captures. “Our rehearsal space is somewhat sacred and cherished,” says Hedditch. “A special place that not many are fortunate enough to experience but a place that means so much to those who do.” On Show is exhibiting at Rofe Street Gallery, Leichardt, from November 10 through to November 24.
