Candid backstage photos of dancers in China in award winning exhibition in Hong Kong
- Ukrainian photographer Sergey Melnitchenko was a dancer in China and his backstage photos show the fragility of nightclub dancers
- His “Behind the Scenes” photos and black-and-white Dusk Til Dawn pictures can be seen at f22 foto space in Wan Chai
Ukrainian photographer Sergey Melnitchenko has a permanent reminder of his time in China – a tattoo of a panda on his left calf. It’s an appropriate choice. Melnitchenko, who was working as a nightclub dancer, spent most of his time in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan province that’s famous for its panda breeding centre.
Now Hongkongers can get a glimpse of another reminder of his experiences in China – an exhibition of 88 photos comprising 11 shots of his award-winning “Behind the Scenes’” series where he captured the nightclub scene, as well as 77 black-and-white images from his “Dusk Til Dawn” series that features a mix of life in China. Most of the images, taken on his mobile phone, were captured between 2015 and 2017.
“I danced many different styles but mostly Latin – it really depended on the clients and the customer,” says Melnitchenko who was part of a group of six dancers from Ukraine who danced with local Chinese girls.
“ I have shown in Paris and London and many European cities, but I really wanted to show in China. This is one of my favourite images,” he says, pointing to a black-and-white shot of a girl sitting on a kerb in a street in Chengdu. It has an almost cinematic feel.”
