Exploration of one’s soul and the spiritual realm can happen without practicing a traditional religion. Painter Barbi Leifert captures the soul of a dancer in her life’s work by exploring the energy, vibrancy and artistic brilliance inherent in contemporary dance.
Barbi Leifert’s “Dancer’s Palette” series captures the essence of artistry on multiple levels. First, there is the artistry of being a dancer. No one experiences the feeling of a lightness of being like a dancer. There is something about leaping high into the air that transcends time and feels like the clock has stopped—at least for a moment. Artist Barbi Leifert understands what it means to possess a lightness of being. She trained as a dancer in New York City, performed professionally in her twenties as a performing artist in Soho, and later she danced with Frank Hatchett of the Broadway Dance Center.
Ms. Leifert, who was a dancer since the age of three, has observed that when she’s creating a painting, she’s not copying pictures of movement. From her many years of dance and choreography, she actually has the movement in her body to the extent that she’s painting the feeling of the dance and not just the imagery. She has taken all that she has embraced as a dancer and shows the fluid lines of motion and the flashes of spark and color in her paintings. The expressive gestures she has preserved on canvas are reminiscent of the remarkable choreography of George Balanchine and the dazzling New York City Ballet; the gravity defying fluidity of Mikhail Baryshnikov; and the delightful dancing seen in “An American in Paris,” choreographed by Tony award winner Christopher Wheeldon. Other contemporary dancers represented in her partings include Charles (Lil buck) Riley, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul.
As far back as she can remember, Ms. Leifert has always painted. As a child, she studied painting at the Brooklyn Museum. Her uncle was a printer who brought her reams of paper. Even much later in life, after she began painting for commission-based works, she never forgot her roots in dance. Dance and Art are one and the same. Both require intense focus for hours and enormous passion that transcends time and space.
Her latest collection, the “Dancer’s Palette” series, is a colorful and sophisticated series of paintings that have been inspired by some of the greatest dancers of our times. Ms. Leifert’s “Tapography” was inspired by tap dance icons Savion Glover, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly and Gregory Hines. “Brava!” was inspired by the sheer talent of Misty Copeland, and “Joyful Dream” emerged from the grace and athleticism of the Alvin Ailey Dancers.
Notables in the art world are prone to comment on Barbi Leifert’s work. Sheri Barnes, Director of Gallerie Amsterdam in Carmel, California, recently said, “Barbi Leifert; her personality and indefatigable passion for her artwork, continually keeps her creative energy swirling around her and her paintings. Her new series, combining dance into her abstracts, is a good example of the energy that rhythmically flows through her work of rich harmonious colors, producing a sense of dynamic movement with emotional impact.”
A native New Yorker now living in Seattle, WA, Barbi Leifert shows her paintings in Malibu, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, New York, Florida and Seattle. In addition to her training and career as a dancer, she is the author of the Manhattan Dance School Directory that was first published in 1978. The book chronicles the 84 dance schools that were individually owned and operated in New York City. (Available on Amazon.com) Barbi Leifert was also a freelance arts writer for Gannett Newspapers covering both dance and the arts.
Brekelle Lavee' Long, owner of Flower and Hewes/Art Vault Unlimited in Malibu, said, “Barbi Leifert is truly a living artist. With each new collection, you get to know her life and her evolution as an artist. In her work, you see the focus, and the freedom and movement of body, mind and soul. To experience Barbi’s work is to have a conversation with the artist: you begin to understand the vision, texture, emotion and lives of the dancers who are telling the story. Like the dancers in her work, Barbi Leifert is going to go the distance as an artist.”
Ms. Leifert’s showing of her “Dancer’s Palette” series will be presented by Lanyon 36 Gallery, 365 West 36th between 8th and 9th Avenue, New York, New York 10018. The show’s exhibition dates run from September 24 to October 24. At the gallery opening, contemporary dancers Alexandra Kassidis and Sentell McDonald will perform a piece that was choreographed in collaboration with Barbi Leifert. The Art opening will also be the launch of Barbi Leifert’s new book DANCER’S PALETTE - A FUSION OF PAINT AND MOVEMENT.
Gallery Director Sheri Barnes also noted, “When I took Barbi Leifert on board, her show at the Phillips galleries was a sellout.”
Barbi Leifert has explored the soul of dance and art in reverse by creating dance inspired by her paintings and paintings inspired by her dance. “The dance and the paintings exist in my subconscious at the same time,” she said. “Before I began the “Dancer’s Palette” series, I had dreams of elaborate, colorful, theatrical choreography staged in full costume.”
No one knows one’s own soul as well as a dancer, except maybe an artist. If dance is ephemeral and purely in the moment, then Barbi Leifert’s work captures the artistry of movement-in-the-moment in a way that transcends time and space. “I definitely believe there is a greater power, god or energy,” she said. “I was meant to be here in this lifetime to learn and to evolve. So anything that has happened in the present or the past, or will happen in the future is part of that evolution. I’m a proactive creator because I‘m here to evolve. My spirituality is connected to being here.”
Barbi Leifert’s fall show in NYC promises to be a success and a dual achievement, a pas de deux for the pairing of dance and art. Legendary artist Matisse once said, “Drawing is like an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.” When it comes to marrying dance to art, Barbi Leifert has done just that. For more information please see www.barbileifert.com.