Before leaving 

Curator: Boyukagha Mirzazade’s oil painting, titled "Before Leaving," offers a fleeting glimpse backstage. Editor: It feels like a whisper of a moment, doesn’t it? All fleeting, pastel blurs and movement. A secret, almost. Curator: Genre painting meets impressionism! The artist captures the essence of a dancer poised on the threshold of performance, but also other dancers either observing, awaiting their turn. Editor: There's a compelling dichotomy at play. We have the isolated figure with her back to us, almost absorbed into the backstage environment, set apart from the energetic swarm visible just beyond the opening behind her. What does the dancer feel, I wonder? Is she hopeful, or doubtful? Curator: The lighting is suggestive; note the deliberate choice to cast a large portion of the work in shadow while highlighting an implied event in which others engage—an invitation, a temptation, a warning... It creates an intriguing contrast in a cultural setting which may place high expectations on any dancer. It begs the question of our access and influence upon public displays of artistic culture. Editor: And those soft pink slippers—a cultural signifier of tradition! The oil paint, though roughly applied, evokes movement; an ethereal quality in the dancers' form as a social entity. She is separate but of them, no? There are those waiting in chairs off-stage, as well. Curator: Absolutely, and the staging! Mirzazade doesn's give us the full space to the right: by abstracting it in places, he sets an implicit expectation of continued and ongoing preparation or practice—all within the frame of a stage performance. Editor: In many ways, isn't ballet still tied to the socio-political culture, now? To tradition, body image, control? Curator: Indelibly, even from an outsider's point of view! Thanks for reminding us of all the visual symbols that make ballet a cultural art-form! Editor: The experience—with its implicit invitation to cultural and political meanings—reveals more layers beneath surface admiration!