Moving Pictures: A Dance Photography Portfolio

MOVING PICTURES A Dance Photography Portfolio LOIS GREENFIELD] 34 LAURA DEAN DANCERS AND MUSICIANS CLI LAURA DEAN Over many years of photographing Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians, I found Interesting revelations on my contact sheets. When photographed at high shutter speeds, the spinning sections of her dances no longer looked like, or evoked, spinning. Instead, the stilled dancers took on a variety of attitudes : ecstacy, supplication, searching, flight.The accompanying studio photo of Laura Dean no longer has anything to do with the fact that she is spinning: a woman is being pursued by her shadow. The group of spinners have defied gravity, they are lost in space, flickering like fireflies. The movements in Trisha Brown's brilliant solo "Water Motor' are explosive and idiosyncratic. Most of the movements are executed so rapidly that it Is almost impossible for the viewer tograsp. The first time I photographed the dance I found I had caught moments I hadn't really "seen." The accompanying photograph presents one of these imperceptible moments, a tran. sition between changes of direction. The entire character of the moment has been transformed. Trisha's forceful energy has been softened. She seems pensive, quietly self-absorbed. 35 TRISHA BROWN (Water Motor) 36 IKENN DUNCANI Notice the softness of the Anthony Dowell photograph. A dramatic statement In black, he contrasts this in the softness of his faceturned down-as well as the softness of the hand position. All done with perfect point and body line. S C a S ANTHONY DOWELL 37 GELSEY KIRKLAND in the photo of Gelsey Kirkland you will note the perfect point of the too. With the arms raised and the back arched, we see the graceful longation of the body noted in the Grand Jete. Catching the lift of the back leg with the tilt of the head creates the two parallel lines In motion. r r 38 Helgi Tomasson's easy leap portrays grace and style with his legs together and toes in point at a 30 degree angle to the floorhis arms at a perfect 45 degrees to his body-all with a smile on his face. HELGI TOMASSON 39 JOHAN ELBERSI RUDY PEREZ (Equinox Run) 40 MEREDITH MONK (Quarry) in terms of the pictures chosen, I especially like the element of mystery, of not quite knowing what is happening, being drawn into the Illusions photography creates for the imagination to play with. What the camera does with motion is magical; those moments the eye cannot see. The problem for me Is that the choreographer and performer often create such strong Images that the photographer's role becomes that of a recorder which is unsatisfying. In order to feel that the photograph is in some way mine, I need to see the camera's image take on a life that isn't just a reference to the work photographed. Not an illustration! C0 B m 0 (0 ROBIN BRENTANO (Andy de Groat/Rope Dance Translations) 41 C0 B m 5: 0 U IBABETTE MANGOLTE I TRISHA BROWN COMPANY (Locus) For the last ten years I have been photographing theatre and dance in New York. I have concentrated on documenting the dnace performances of the "Post-Judson" choreographers (Trisha Brown, Steve Paxton, David Gordon, etc.). As these choreographers were primarily working to create "new movement "-that is, movement concerned with the dancer's body In relatively neutral space-I found it a challenge to translate these pieces into the medium of photography. I wanted my photographs to serve both as a record of the actual performance and as Interesting pictures in and of themselves. 42 TRISHA BROWN COMPANY (Glacial Decoy) This type of dance interested me because it was dealing with an extension of a particular choreographer's own idiosyncratic way of moving. For me, it was a dance language that was able to constantly change and renew itself. These choreographers are concerned with movement and not with the way this movement related to props, background, or even a musical soundtrack. Therefore, as the photographer, I try to capture a specific Instant (1/250 second-the usual low light speed for dance photography) of the "gesture in time" which will best describe that...