Dance as if no one is watching you

I have been a fan of Jordan Matter for a while. If you don’t know who it is, check out his Youtube channel and be prepared to be blown away by his infectious and enthusiastic attitude. Not to say his incredible images which require perfect timing from both the photographer and the performer.

Yes he may be American however his energy and drive is very natural and honest. He relates wonderfully to the young people he works with and the results just get more and more impressive as he pushes the human physical envelope every shoot working with incredible professional dancers circus stars.

The recent shoots I have been doing with pole fitness and circus skills individuals continue to excite me and I hope to capture their abilities in those fleeting moments along their particular journey. However there is an absence of contemporary and ballet dance in my long history of work so inspired by Jordan, I wanted to test myself at a booked classic location and correct this.

So I started asking around making contact with various dance studios and met Kym, a local dance and yoga teacher who recommended a couple of her students as being ideal victims, er, er, candidates.
We arranged to meet one bright but chilly afternoon at Great Witley Court just outside of Worcester for a test first time shoot. A lovely English Heritage location and a perfect backdrop for classical dance shapes and dance generally. 
The weather really whips across the exposed ruins most of the year, but on a good day there is much to appeal to photographers. More historic texture and atmosphere than you can point a stick at.

Anyway, Tori and Skye were excited to undertake their first professional shoot and their youthful enthusiasm certainly helped keep them warm as they revele’d, glissade’d, saute’d and tendu’d all across the grounds on the way up to the main building. It was the perfect combination for me with Skye ballet trained and Skye more contemporary in style.

Kym was there too, buried under thick jackets offering endless encouragement and ideas. And to be honest time just ran away with us. Due to the chilled weather it was a quite afternoon and we had only worked at 3 of the dozens of locations when the guide told us they were closing in 5 minutes. 

So frustrating as we hadn’t even got to the good bit. Kym, Tori and Skye all seemed to enjoy it so hopefully we will revisit this historic building and you’ll see more dance drama from them soon.

Thank you ladies you were awesome.