June 2006

June has been a relatively quiet month, but with some interesting projects. It has given much needed time to focus (no pun) on other aspects of photography and massage, especially on the business end.

The month began with Ballet Under the Stars at the Zilker Hillside Theatre. This is an annual show produced by Artistic Director Arletta Howard-Logan's Austin Dance Ensemble. Her group has some of the best (collectively as a group) female classical ballet dancers in Austin, in my opinion, other than the Ballet Austin Academy. It was a pleasure to see some of my favorite dancers from last year once more. Unfortunately, the lighting plot at the Zilker was difficult to appreciate - both from an aesthetic as well as photography prospective. Nevertheless the graceful form of the dancers came through in some photos.

I have not photographed high caliber bharatnatyam dancers since the Fall of 2005. Therefore the presentation of Bhaaratha Samudhaayam Vazhgave, in San Antonio was a treat. This ballet was a compilation of compositions by the renowned, turn of the 20th century, South Indian poet, Bharathiyar. Themes from his muse Goddess, to the equality of women, as well as patriotism were explored. The dancers were trained by some of the best dancers in this genre, and did credit to the teachers. Each had their strength, and the performance was very enjoyable. I am a fan of several of the choreographers as well. It was a pleasure to capture them though the lens.

This was the first time I attended the Big Range Dance Festival (bigrange.org). Unfortunately I could only experience Program B. The Barnavelder, which hosts the festival) is an intimate space for a performance. Subtle body movements and detailed facial expressions, usually lost in larger venues, are very easy to see. As an audience member, one can connect with a dancer more intimately I feel. I have not had the opportunity to shoot here very often, but the photographs from this space have a very different feel. It allows for unusual angles and which suits contemporary/modern dance forms well, but at the expense of a lower yield of shots due to volatile spacing between the camera and dancers. Most of the pieces (or parts of) Program B appealed to me. There were a few performances that I wanted to see in Program A and C, but was unable to do so. I regret missing FLY's final performance before their retirement.

Photos from these performances can be seen in the June Summary gallery at http://insightphotography.smugmug.com/Dance.

I will write about some of the other performances in June soon. They include Blue Lapis Light's Requiem, Houston Ballet's Don Quixote,
Texas Youth Dance Council's Performance, and Thaddeus Davis's performance in Austin. Additionally, I have also completed a slide show summarizing my portfolio. More on that later.