December 2025 - Utrecht/Haarlem, The Netherlands
Freedom is a Dancer
This project moves beyond straightforward portraiture to create a visual and visceral narrative of internal conflict, deconstruction, and self-reclamation. It uses analogue photography to make the internal struggle and the emotional weight of Vincenzo’s story visible. It transforms the silent moments in between, the pressure, the internal reshaping, the liberation, into tangible feelings.
Trained within the traditional world of classical ballet and modern dance, Vincenzo grew up and worked in studios where the rules were clear: men move one way, women move another. From posture to costume to stories told on stage, gender was built into everything.
For Vincenzo, who later came to understand themselves as non-binary, these expectations became both familiar and suffocating. Vincenzo Turiano is an Italian-born dancer, choreographer, and queer artist based in the Netherlands. They trained at the prestigious Teatro alla Scala Academy in Milan and have danced professionally with Introdans for over a decade, performing in classical and contemporary repertoires, later choreographing works that celebrate individuality and challenge norms.
Vincenzo is a vocal advocate for inclusivity and diversityin the dance world. Their artistic practice and public speaking foreground the need to dismantle rigid gender roles and create space for all bodies and identities. Through collaborations with ensembles like the award-winning collective Boys Won’t Be Boys, they have shared personal narratives that invite audiences to rethink stereotypes and embrace uniqueness. The portraits follow different chapters of that experience. In some, Vincenzo stands in the quiet of a rehearsal space, the place where they first felt the pressure to “perform” a gender they didn’t identify with. In others, they move freely, reclaiming the space that once constrained them.
The shift becomes visible: from trying to fit into a role toreshaping what a dancer can look like, feel like, and be. Vincenzo’s story is not just personal; it reflects a wider struggle faced by many queer and trans dancers, who are still asked to choose sides in an artform that celebrates expression but controls identity. These images are a reflection of resilience, re-imagination. They show a dancer refusing to be defined by tradition, instead carving out space where movement and identity can meet.
They offer a glimpse of what ballet and dance could become whenthe binary loosens, and everyone is allowed to exist fully.
