The expressive power of the human body in both pose and movement is infinite. My goal in photographing dance performance is to capture those transformative moments when choreography, music, and the dancer come together to elevate our sensory, emotional, and intellectual experience as well as our humanity. The following images are from my exhibit of dance photography at the Indian Hill Music Center in Littleton, Massachusetts.
Thank you to everyone who came to the opening. Thank you to Erica Mash for taking photos at the opening.
Meet the Dancers
Abraham in Motion
The Boston Globe named the company’s performance of Pavement at Jacob’s Pillow in August, 2013 one of the year’s best dance performances. Later in 2013 founder Kyle Abraham received a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. Pavement tells the stories of urban Pittsburgh using vivid dance imagery and a very cool soundtrack ranging from Vivaldi to the blues to electronica.
Martha Graham Company
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the iconic May 29, 1913 premiere of The Rite of Spring by the Ballets Russes and its revolutionary impact on dance, the Martha Graham Company performed Graham’s choreography for The Rite of Spring during its 2013 season. The Boston Globe named the performance at Jacob’s Pillow, August, 2013 one of the year’s best dance performances.
I had the great privilege of photographing both Pavement and The Rite of Spring at Jacob’s Pillow, August, 2013.
Rene Thompson Latin Dance Team
Cuban native and professional dancer Rene Thompson teaches and dances today in Minneapolis. He’s one of very few in the U.S. teaching and performing AfroCuban dance. AfroCuban dance originated in Cuba as a way for enslaved Africans to disguise their forbidden Yoruban religious practices. The dance served multiple functions: as a worship ritual and means to attain a spiritual state, as a social activity, and as a surreptitious communication code within the community. For example, the thrashing of the women’s skirts is a ritualized fending off of the master’s attentions. Contemporary Cuban salsa, first seen in this country in 1930s NYC, evolved from these AfroCuban rhythms and dance movements. I photographed several of Rene’s dance classes and rehearsals in the fall of 2012.
Bellybeat Dance Company
I photographed the company’s production Reflect at the Boston University Dance Theater in April, 2013.
All images in the show were presented as canvas prints by Madison Editions.
Copyright 2014 Alice Gebura All Rights Reserved