Brad Walls’ PASSÉ Exhibition Brings Ballet to New Heights in New York City
- Kimberly Porter
- Sep 10
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 14
Step Into the Ballet From Above With Brad Walls’ PASSÉ Exhibition
New York has always been a stage for reinvention—and this September, ballet is getting one of its boldest transformations yet. Acclaimed aerial photographer Brad Walls is set to unveil PASSÉ, a breathtaking new exhibition that reframes ballet through his signature bird’s-eye lens. The show opens to the public September 12–14, 2025, at 347 Broome Street in New York City, with a special VIP opening taking place on September 11th, 2025.
A Ballet Like You’ve Never Seen It
Best known for Pools From Above, his internationally celebrated series that turned swimming pools into poetic composition, Walls now brings his design-first, overhead perspective to one of the world’s most classical art forms. PASSÉ is the culmination of three years of preparation, creative mapping, and large-scale collaboration with more than 60 ballet dancers and a 10-person crew.
At the heart of the project is not just photography, but one of the largest choreographed ballet photoshoots ever staged. With a sweeping red carpet serving as both stage and canvas, Walls transformed traditional ballet into larger-than-life visual geometry, where movement and human form flow into structured patterns of discipline, grace, and vulnerability.
Walking into the exhibition, visitors won’t just see photographs; they’ll step into them. Life-sized images printed at eye-level allow audiences to engage with ballet in an unexpectedly immersive way. Each day, 150 guests will also have the chance to take home a postcard directly from one of the ballerinas featured, thus bridging the line between viewer and performer and making the experience deeply personal.
Inside the Artist’s Vision
Walls describes his work as an exploration of "movement, geometry, and space," balancing chaos with stillness, and chaos with hidden order. He often begins his creative process not with a camera, but with a sketchbook, mapping out choreographies of form before capturing them from his vantage point above. The results invite viewers not only to look but to pause, reflect, and reimagine familiar art forms through a contemporary and cinematic lens.
In his own words, PASSÉ is more than a study of dance. It is a dreamlike arrangement of bodies in motion, patterns in balance, and emotion distilled into symmetry. It asks audiences to see ballet not from the orchestra seat or the stage, but from the sky.
About the Artist
Born in Sydney in 1992 and now based in New York, Brad Walls has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting visual artists of his generation. With a unique ability to turn everyday subjects into striking patterns of symmetry and restraint, Walls has been featured internationally, garnering a devoted collector base and exhibitions around the globe.
His breakout series Pools From Above, published in The New York Times in 2022, positioned him at the forefront of contemporary fine art photography. Today, his work expands far beyond swimming pools and embraces dance, architecture, and the human form, while staying true to his signature aerial perspective that offers both clarity and awe.
Exhibition Details
General Admission: September 12 – 14, 2025, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Location: 347 Broome Street, New York City
If interested in the works, please contact @BradsCanvas.com
Why You Won’t Want to Miss It
For those who love ballet, visual art, or simply seeing the world from a new angle, PASSÉ offers an encounter that is both intimate and monumental. It is a celebration of beauty and discipline, yet it is also playful and contemporary in spirit. The exhibition asks audiences to reconsider what ballet can be.
This September, New York becomes the canvas, ballet the brushstroke, and Brad Walls the visionary guiding our gaze from above. Don’t just watch ballet, but step into it. Join us for Brad Walls very first U.S. solo exhibition!