A note about these pictures, and all my dance pictures

I was reminded this weekend (Saturday) of the separation between what almost all other photographers do, how they work and how they approach a job, versus how the tiny handful of dance photographers work. It so happened I had a number of paper prints in 11x17 (not my largest) with me which I showed to a small group of photographers. I don't think you can really see the images if you don't print them large, on paper.

Getting those responses from those professional photogs made me think I needed to say something here. Something I never normally do.

However my experience with other photographers is that most will turn at flank speed and run like crazy for the hills if you even mention dance lessons. No wonder they have a tough time knowing what to shoot for dance.

So, just a brief interruption, or - please jump ahead to the items below.

Mike

First, here is a link to my set of chapters on shooting dance (I call it "representing" dance).
It was orignally a longer video but seems easier to handle in smaller segments.
If you mean to shoot dance (not just posed dancers), this is meant to help you.
Representing Dance - Learning by Chapter

The group of (non-dance) photographers asked:
1 - "So what are the clues when to shoot?"
2 - "How many frames per second is your camera set to?" (meaning "continuous drive")
3 - "Obviously they set aside time for you (me) to shoot still pictures of the dancers." (first time I've heard this, but maybe not new)

1 - "Clues? Hints? List of?"
- Nope, Nope and Nope. While I don't consider my dancing, such as it is, stageable (any 3-year old could wipe the floor with me), nonetheless my real information is "embodied" in physical practice. I started shooting dance when I took up swing, ballroom etcetera in the 1990's. Later, I took tap and my photography made a quantum change. I suddenly heard and saw what before I had missed. This is covered a bit in "Representing Dance" I also took one or two classes of Flamenco (for the counter rythms in palmas) and adult beginning (very beginning) ballet which, tiny as it was, opened up my eyes to seeing the components of ballet to shoot rather than just "some motions."
And a list? Even if you make out a list you don't have the time to consult it. Short lists would be incomplete. Long lists are just too long.
You just have to learn the subject, and that takes time and repetition and work and years.

2 - "How many frames per second?"
NO, NEVER. I never use continuous drive ("motor drive" in film cameras).
BIG HINT: ONLY USE SINGLE-drive mode.
I can't think of a worse way to shoot dance (or anything). You loose all control over the exact moment of each shot. Instead, the camera's intervalometer (a clock which triggers an action - think of a windshield wiper motor) decides when each frame is taken. It is only listening to its own internal timing clock, not to music, or seeing the dancer. For years I've heard companies say the xyz photographer from the newspaper was just here and they took a lot of shots but nothing was taken right on the exact best moments - always a tad off. Frantically hitting the button will do the same.
If you don't know what to choose as you shoot, then you won't be much better trying to pick the occasional good shot from a ton of wasted frames.
When things do start moving hot and heavy, that is when you go steady, stay patient and let each movement work to its conclusion before hitting the button, even when you are hitting the button a lot. You need to listen to the music, watch the dancer and have a lot of patience.
In addition, shooting in single-frame mode gives you a chance to notice a mistake, such as shooting too soon and, for example, getting a slightly bent leg, then correcting it with another shot right after when the leg is fully straight.

3 - "They obviously set time aside on stage or in the studio to shoot these."
OH NO! They don't have time to do that with me. That is among the reasons I go to rehearsals before we get to the theater and then spend as much time shooting lighting and tech before we get to dress which is usually what I am counting on for my primary pictures. Each rehearsal not only helps me know what to shoot, each rehearsal adds a layer of information and a body sense of what each shot feels like so that I am ready to get certain shots I am looking for. But that assumption also tells me what these shooters thinks is dance photography.
Even Lois Greenfield, largely seen as a dance photographer, says she does not shoot dance. So, what does she shoot? She shoots dancers, with a camera fixed in place on a tripod pointing at a set studio location, with tons of electronic flash. The dancers, waiting at that location,
jump on a count of 3, doing something dancy.
This is more like Philippe Halsmans' jumping portraits from 1951 until his death in the 1980's. Everyone copied Philippe Halsman and today his "jump book" looks pretty tame. (Google image search)
The other reason is that settup up poses means a lack of variations and a lack of poses. In a performed piece, every beat has the possibility of yet another shot in position, after position, and with the dancers in full character. You just have more options shooting performances, even while you have less control over locations and lighting in particular.

4 - one more tip they didn't ask about. Use DSLR's and not mirrorless. Mirrorless are a godsend where they work well, like any other tool used to its strength, such as grip-and-grin pictures, gatherings, events, because you can adjust all the exposures as you view it. But the electronic viewfinder shows you what happened, not what is happening. For example, my partner, Nicole, was teaching a skirt dance when I got my Z6 mirrorless (for the Hays Symphony, hoping it was quieter). She gripped the hem of her dress and moved it in an arc in front of and above her. In the viewfinder I shot as she gripped the skirt hem below and left of her. However, instead of getting her just picking up the hem, I got the skirt as a large half circle in front of her, high above her upper right, hiding her. So the viewfinder display was 4-5 feet behind the actual action. (Symphony note: the viewfinder display was too slow for the conductor, too.) A DSLR, where you look through the lens directly, is right on. An awful lot can happen inside a second. The exact right moment is a tiny fraction of time within any second.

Cheers,
Mike Strong

Companies in program order

Wylliams/Henry dancers in lighting tech, wednesday the 14th

Wylliams-Henry Contemporary Dance Company

"Calaboose"

Choreographer: Charissa Barton
Choreographic Assistant: Hayley Kostas

Mary Pat Henry: Artistic Director
DeeAnna Hiett: Co-artistic Director

Dancers:
Alexis Borth, Roma Catania, Caroline Dahm, Sarah McGuyer, Ashlan Zay

Music:
Dig the Say: III. To live tomorrow By PUBLICQuartet
Wild Women Don't Get the Blues By PUBLICQuartet and Ida Cox
Blackbird By PUBLICQuartet
Break Away: IV. Quick Pass By Jesse Montgomery, Julian Wachner
Romanian Fantasies By Fran & Flora
Excerpt from Jesus is Coming By Akropolis Reed Quartet, Jacob Ter Veldhuis
Ruma Panoramica for Cello, Bandoneon and Electronics By Anjelica Negron, Inbal Segev and Julien Labro

Program Note:
For a child, a simple box has infinite potential to express one's imagination.
As we age into adulthood, a box becomes something 'useful": packaging.
A construct. Putting others into a box so we can understand them.
Boxing oneself in to feel safe and protected.
How can we find that playfulness again?
How can we break out of the box of patterned thinking? — Charissa

Owen/Cox dancers, tech, wednesday the 14th

Owen/Cox Dance Group

"Keep the Moon on Time"

Choreographer: Ryan Arias (with Alba Castillo)

Artistic Director: Co-Founder, Jennifer Owen
Co-Founder: Brad Cox
Costume Design: Jennifer Tierney

Music:
Natural Mystic (Live at the Rainbow Theatre, London/June 1 , 1977)  Written by: Bob Marley
Guiltiness (Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London/June 1, 1977)  Written by: Bob Marley
Ode — Our Own Roof  Written by: Nils Frahm

Intermission

Störling dancers behind the main, tech on Thursday 16th, taking a group picture

Störling Dance Theater

Pronounced "sterling" as in sterling silver (Swedish).

"I Have to See You"

Choreographer: Victoria Marks - in collaboration with the performers
Artistic Director: Mona Störling-Enna
Costume Design: Caitlin Pettijohn

Music:
I Have to See You By Eve Beglarian, Performed by Eve Beglarian and Lucas Papenfusscline
Symphony #3 — Gloria — Third Movement By Glenn Branca
In Lieu of Performed and Written by Wim Mertens

Dancers:Tiffany Best, Brianna Collins, Molly Cook,
Laura Fiatte, Beret Holaday, Amy Hull, Katarina Larson,
Heidi Loubser, Ashley Moehlenhoff Breanne Risenhoover,
Jillian Sivewright, Alexandra Smith, Alexandra Wilson, Andrea Wolfe

L-R: Foreground: Alladson Barreto and Amanda DeVenuta
Background, partially obscured: Angelin Carrant, Georgia Fuller, and Cameron Thomas

Kansas City Ballet

"Life Within a Letter"

Choreographer: Stephanie Martinez

Artistic Director: Devon Carney
Costume Arrangement: KC Ballet Wardrobe Department
Rehearsal Assistant: Noelle Kayser (assistant to Stephanie Martinez)
Production Stage Manager: Victoria Frank
Assistant Stage Manager: Laura Krus

Music:
Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067: Vll_ Badinerie Written by: Johann Sebastian Bach
"Mail" Sound Design: Noelle Kayser
Suite in B-Flat Major, HVW 434: IV Menuet Written by: George Frideric Handel
Will's Confession Written by: David Julyan
Etudes: Mazurka Written by: Knudåge Riiager
Concerto for Four Pianos in A Minor, BIM/ 1065: ll. Largo Written by: Johann Sebastian Bach
Happy Together Remastered Performed by: The Turtles

Dancers:
Amanda DeVenuta, Georgia Fuller, Taryn Mejia, Naomi Tanioka,
Isaac Allen, Alladson Barreto, Angelin Carrant, Cameron Thomas

All works were commissioned by the Midwest Trust Center (formerly Carlsen Center) of Johnson County Community College
Newly hired Executive Director Stacie McDaniel welcomed the audience and introduced, at Friday's performance, the special
presentation and appreciation for newly retired Executive Director Emily Behrmann

"Getting There"

Behind The Scenes Video

Behind the scenes "Getting to" video at:  https://vimeo.com/754045332

30 minute video above on my Vimeo site

"How the Post Office Created America"
by Winifred Gallagher

NOTE - It so happened that I was reviewing a book on the history of the US Post Office at the same time as I headed into KC Ballet to shoot pictures for the piece on mail.

The book is "How the Post Office Created America" by Winifred Gallagher. The book reviews I write, and record for the air, go to HPPR (High Plains Public Radio) in Garden City, Kansas (Southwest corner of Kansas, west of Dodge).

The URL at HPPR for Fall 2022 Bookbytes:
https://www.hppr.org/podcast/hppr-radio-readers-book-club#fall-2022

This is the 6th of 8 pieces I did on this book. So it may be a couple of weeks from today (Monday 3 October 2022) before this particular piece is on the HPPR site. Each 4-minute piece goes on the website when it is broadcast on the air.

6 - The Tactile Feel of "The Mail"

This is Mike Strong, in Hays, for HPPR
The book is "How the Post Office Created America" by Winifred Gallagher

As I was working on reviewing Winifred Gallagher's book, I was also shooting photos and video for a dance concert. One of the pieces was nostalgic about physical, paper mail. Specifically, about getting paper rather than texts or email.

The new technology to create texts and email is an electronic extension of physical mail. Physical mail in the 1800's was social media for then, as well as commercial communication. Both paper and electronic delivery depend on the same type of underlying addressing structure. The address is a location. The deliverable item is a tactile connection.

The September concert I was shooting, New Dance Partners, is a program from Johnson County Community College which brings four choreographers together with four dance companies to create, from scratch, in a month or so, new choreographies which are then performed in concert.

There are four companies, Störling Dance Theater, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary, Owen/Cox Dance Group and Kansas City Ballet.

This year I also spent more time shooting off-site rehearsals, catching the beginnings for each work for a behind the scenes documentation. The work at Kansas City Ballet (KCB) didn't yet have a name and the rehearsal props were not obvious mail pieces.

By the second rehearsal with KCB, for what would be named "Life Within a Letter," I knew that choreographer Stephanie Martinez, from Chicago, was celebrating "the mail" as a physical object you could touch.

"Life Within a Letter" is a whimsical piece with dancers turning, leaping, throwing and catching other dancers in simulated ecstasies of delight and wonder as they hold high, large red envelopes. As a dance photographer this was fun.

As a dancer, this is hard work. KCB had more dancers rehearsing than the eight performing. That allows the company to change casting as needed, such as for another show, and for injuries. There were some cast changes.

Stephanie Martinez' note for the performance program reads:
"My new work for Kansas City Ballet will explore the almost lost art of writing and receiving letters. In a time of instant communication, I think back to how written correspondence shaped our lives and relationships. The anticipation of receipt and the intimacy of holding someone's words has a vastly different effect on a person than the alert of a text or email. Moments of humor, heartbreak and the mundane - my work will make you wonder "What was in that letter?" "
Stephanie Martinez

Stephanie had large red prop envelopes for the dancers to hold out as they moved. The sense of touch, of holding the paper someone had sent, was in the movement. The pleasure of touch.

In breaks, the dancers would drop those big red prop envelopes. The dancers would pick up their phones. Faces intently peered at texts and messages and emails. Posts to like, messages to respond to and children to check on.

Sometimes, as I showed my pictures after a rehearsal, especially the high carry with a drop by Taryn into a basket catch, I would be asked to please "put that on Instagram" so everyone can see. No one asked me to send them a letter with those pictures.

Communication, as Alexis de Toqueville concluded in his book "Democracy in America" (1835) is the developer of civilization.

This is Mike Strong, in Hays, for HPPR Radio Readers Book Club