It was a unique opportunity for artists and dance fans - either to take a peek behind the scenes and really admire a fraction of the hard work that goes into those physical and beautiful pieces, or to sketch, photograph, write about or just observe freely without worrying about disturbing fellow audience members or breaking any rules.
As a theatre and arts photographer I'm privileged to see many of these behind the scenes moments while photographing rehearsals or shows; this was different in that I was only photographing for myself and therefore could be a bit more experimental. I played a lot with long exposures, moving myself or keeping the camera static, with what happens when you put the camera out of focus on purpose, and even tried freelensing for the first time (conclusion: the effect is beautiful but when your subjects are also moving it's even more difficult!).
It was also a wonderful sensation to have creativity happening behind you in the stalls as well as in front of you on the stage. The air in the room was almost crackling with it and we all shared gleeful smiles as we left for the sheer pleasure of making something all together.
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| Warm-ups for me |
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| Warm-ups for the dancers |
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| Moving camera on tripod to follow the dancers across the stage (above and below) |
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| Free-motion capture (above and below left) |
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| I had time to play with the exposures to balance out tracking the dancers' movements with retaining some detail |
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| The studio becomes like a cinema screen, each cell a fragment of time, movement, energy |
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| Winding back down, unfocusing, loosening muscles |
Thank you very much to both companies, the choreographer and most of all to the dancers for the opportunity - head to The Place's website and sign up to the mailing list to find out about more such classes.
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| And of course I couldn't resist a few classic shots...so much grace, so much sinew |
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