BLOG #122

12/29/2015

The opportunity to work with and photograph terrific professional dancers is always a gift, especially for someone, like myself, who loves dance and admires dancers so much.

The members of Zvi Gotheiner’s troupe came to my studio for the panoramic image above of multiple dancers. Gotheiner is a respected dance master who in addition to making inventive choreography and running his own company, conducts classes for the New York City Ballet.

Making a special photograph of one dancer is difficult; a fluid art frozen into a beautiful still form. The making of a marvelous photograph of two dancers simultaneously is exponentially harder. And to photograph three or more at a time: one has to make lots editing of compromises. This might not be the case with a synchronized troupe such as the Radio City Rockettes, but with modern dance that is free, not tightly choreographed and spontaneously inspired, capturing several dancers at just the right fantastic moment is daunting, if not impossible.

Therefore, in order to do my own visual choreography, I asked each of the 11 dancers to work solo, to music of his or her choosing, with the other members of the company acting as the audience. I encouraged the other troupe members to heartedly cheer and applaud in order to give their colleague who was “performing” for my camera lots of added energy. Over the course of a whole day I made well over 1000 images. My choices were many and the creative “arrangements” infinite. I chose the ones that were thrilling to me, as well as worked for this composition, and arranged them rhythmically and “connected.”