These photos are of Abby, who is a sophomore majoring in dance at the U of A. For this project, I decided to address the ideas of body movements. Abby has been dancing since she was three years old, so posing in a variety of diverse dance moves came easily to her. I wanted to explore the different angles and positions she can effortlessly reposition her body into by shooting some wide shots of her entire body and some close-ups mainly focusing on the legs and feet. The close-up shots emphasize the muscle and strength that is required to be a dancer, which also shows that a lot of hard work and practice go into making a task such as this seem so simple to an outsider. The pointe shoes are often considered a very recognizable symbol of someone who is a dancer, so the close-up photo of the shoes instantly tells the viewer who the person in the photograph is.
The work of Eadward Muybridge influenced the ideas behind this photo project. He was interested in motion and wanted to capture how people/animals moved on film. Muybridge took an interest that he had and turned it into a photographic experiment. He wanted to know whether all four of a horse’s hooves touch the ground at the same time when running. From there, he began his project. Like Muybridge, I took something that interested me and explored it further. I am always intrigued and impressed by dancers and their ability to gracefully move about. I don’t have any experience with dancing (I won’t count ballet in second grade as experience), so I wanted to take a closer look at someone who has had years of practice and time to perfect the technique. While many of Muybridge’s photos are of fast-paced action, such as a horse running, my photos captured each movement, but they were done so in a slow, controlled manner by the dancer.
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