Two Weeks' of Dance

I've spent the past fortnight around dance and dancers, thinking about dance and dancers, and making pictures of dance and dancers.

 

Dance is one of those things I've grown an appreciation for as I have gotten older.  For some reason I didn't "get" it at all when I was younger.  I still may not "get"* it, but I have found an appreciation of it.  Dance feels like the intersection of music, sport, martial arts, and theatre to me.  Clearly that view will change as I learn/experience more.  The reason I reached this place, I think, is because Kathryn has been involved with COA the last few years.  Because of this I have had the chance to see a number of productions.  The studio is a group of amazing people who work their tails off honing their craft.  It shows.  The top dancers make it look easy, and the word "talent" starts getting thrown around.  I'm not a big fan of that word because years of blood, sweat, and tears tend to hide unacknowledged behind it.  But, I understand why people use it, and the praise is deserved-- however it is shared.  They are led by a knowledgeable, intense, and caring group of instructors.  I can't say enough about their dedication.

I wanted to explore dance a bit through pictures.  I had the good fortune to meet up with one the dancers to try some things away from a stage.  My favorites from those happened at the end of the day (of course, because it always seems to work that way!!) out by a pond.  I like some like the ones I have here with the hay bales.  However, those have helped me see a way to take that idea and make it a bit better.

I also had access to COA's dress rehearsal.  I made a number of the "typical" frozen pictures you typically see when people shoot things on stage.  But, when I think of action shots, I drift away from that idea a lot.  When I watch a performance, I tend to remember a key moments, frozen, as still frames.  I like to make pictures that I can't duplicate with my mind.  I like the surprise of it.  I have placed a few of those in here also.  Carly hates stuff like that, so I know it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

( You can click on the above images for a larger view )

As an aside, this preference shows up when I look at other people's photography.  For example, I like motorsport pictures that look like this (top picture), or this, or examples from here as opposed to perfectly frozen images.

*To assume I understand it at all would be mighty presumptuous of me.