They're all gorgeous photos of Saint Louis Ballet ballerinas' and adorable animals posing together. All the dogs and cats are up for adoption.
That's the premise behind a project called Dancers & Dogs that combines ballet, social media, and furry best friends.
There's 4-month old Pavarotti, Bubble Gum, Pop Tart and Jelly Bean, two-year-old Soda Fountain or a photo of the Sugar Plum Fairy with Samara, a 2 month old shepherd.
The ballerinas are from Saint Louis Ballet, the animals are from Stray Rescue of St. Louis and the photography is by Dancers & Dogs, a project which would ultimately photograph 100 dancers & 100 hundred dogs in over 10 cities across the country in the span of two and a half years. Stray Rescue is a St. Louis based non-profit that is currently at capacity and is eager to find homes for loving pets ahead of the holiday season.
Aptly named "Muttcracker," it's magical and for a good cause! It's a collaboration between Dancers & Dogs, Saint Louis Ballet & Stray Rescue of St. Louis and is in its second year in hopes of getting dogs and cats adopted.
Day 1 began in November:
Dancers & Dogs posts a different ballerina in a different pose with shelter dogs or cats each day on their Facebook page. For example on Day 5 of Muttcracker on their Facebook page: "We're kicking up our heels, and our wheels, Spanish-style today! --
This is Scooch! He is 6 years old. Scooch was found hiding under the crawl space of an abandoned house. He was paralyzed from the waist down, but with generous funding, Stray Rescue was able to get him a set of wheels!"
The idea behind Dancers & Dogs began in 2017 when "St. Louis based professional photographers Kelly Pratt & Ian Kreidich, a husband-and-wife team who work with the Saint Louis Ballet along with dancers around the country, had a vision: "What if we took pictures of ballet dancers, with dogs?" according to their press release.
There's also a book the couple co-wrote, "Dancers & Dogs," that contains over 200 pages of photographs and their favorite behind-the-scenes stories about the project and some of the featured dancers and dogs.