Unusual Shapes

When you meet Sebastian Rich you'd never guess he's been a conflict photographer for more than thirty years.  His easy relaxed demeanor doesn't match the vitriolic events transpiring in his work.  His lack of pretension and humble persona are a delightful surprise considering his accolades and accomplishments.  But don't worry. What he lacks in "pretentious artist" characteristics he makes up for in the exciting images he makes.  

Recently he's been photographing dance and what I find most intriguing is his self-confessed lack of knowledge on the subject matter.  It seems to me that a lot of dance photographers tend to go for those money moments.  Pointed feet and straight legs.  Usually a beautiful moment where a shape is captured in mid air or swiftly moving across the stage.  I have consciously tried to veer away from the typical beautiful moments in dance but rarely share them with anyone for fear of criticism.  Or if the viewer is also the subject that they'll be unhappy with the way they look. 

But Sebastian does what few new dance photographers can ever do.  With his uncanny sensibility to light in a scene and the ability to patiently observe or casually interact with his subjects he manages to make gorgeous images based on his own well developed aesthetic. He's creating gorgeous work regardless of his knowledge of dance.  

I find a strange beauty in the juxtaposition of two dancers in low light and a soldier in the desert giving water to a prisoner on his knees.  Perhaps it's because when we see this on his promotional material for the Dance on Camera Festival we're confronted with the two very heightened states of reality that couldn't possibly live anywhere together other than in photographs in a book.  

To conclude, I got a little inspired and decided to make a collage of three images I took today.  They don't highlight the dancer's technique but rather the raw energy trying to make its way out of the body through technique.  I chose these moments because they reveal the freedom that only great dancing and solid technique can allow for.  Below is Michael Novak in Paul Taylor's Fibers.  Please visit Sebastian's website and attend the Dance on Camera Festival discussion with moderators, Liz Wolf and Igal Perry this Saturday February 1st.

Coming this March...

A Correlli and Paul Taylor mash-up.

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What makes art funny?

Here the company rehearses Troilus and Cressida (reduced).  By all accounts Paul Taylor's Troilus and Cressida is a stark contrast to the one William Shakespeare wrote.  Where Shakespeare's characters are flung into a romance full of tragic circumstances, Mr. Taylor's elicits several guffaws from the audience.  Personally I've watched this dance so many times I've lost count and although I know when the jokes are coming I still invariably burst out in a chuckle or at the very least grin from start to finish.  By the end I wonder, "How does he do that? Make me laugh over and over?"  Surely we can't give ALL the credit to Paul.  The dancers give it the freshness and character it always needs.  But even without the mugging and the silly facial reactions from the dancers this dance still manages to pack a good punch line every time.

So what makes it or any art funny?  I think first of all as Paul always reminds us trying to be funny is never funny.  It's the conviction of the character's purpose that makes the joke.  As a creator I'm sure Paul wasn't thinking, "Now I have to make this funny."  Rather I would venture to say that he set boundaries for himself such as character, setting, motivation and result.  Add some brilliant dancers and you've got ingredients for a great dance.  I still can't answer my own question though.  What makes art funny?  I recently watched a talk by the great photographer Elliot Erwitt where he goes through some of his personal best work.  I laughed my head off for the better part of twenty minutes.  Again I was delighted by this feeling that a piece of art had the capability to make me laugh in a most peculiar way.  A way that made me stop and think for a second and hung around in my thoughts more permanently.  

Eran Bugge, Heather McGinley, Rob Kleinendorst, and Kristi Tornga.

Jamie Rae Walker with cast men