Dance and Photography One

At SDB, we have been very fortunate to have some wonderful photographers who have come and taken photos of our performances. the thing to remember about dance and photography (and dance and video for that matter) is that they are two seperate art forms. Photographs are not simply a record of a performance. They are their OWN performance.

As such with dance photography, good photographs fall into two catagories. Those which are amazing photographic images and those which show the DANCE off to the best. Sometimes the two overlap, sometimes they do not.

Today, we will talk a bit about some photos of SONNETS by Manuel Rotenburg, whos pictures can be found at rotepix.com



This first picture is of Noriko Maruzoe and Askar Kettebekov. A very nice pic. Both dancers are engaged. Their lines are complementary. AND the picture itself seems to have photographic integrity.

This next picture however is a different story.



Photographically, it is quite interesting. One dancer is in a lovely position and in focus. The other is out of focus and seems unformed. While it is a good photo, it isn't something that we could use at the ballet, because in ballet we always need to show a fairly finished product. People expect refinement from ballet. But...



We CAN use it. We have many needs photographic needs when it comes to marketing. So we are always on the lookout for PIECES of pictures that fit our needs. As shown below.



So look at the photo below with the eagle eye of an artistic director/marketing guy.



Well?

I'll come back tomorrow and show you what we would probably do with it.