Slam Dunks and Dance Dawgs

I’ve started shooting UGA basketball and have found that there is so much more to photograph than the game itself. The Athletic Association ensures that there is never a dull moment. During the time-outs in every game, the Dance Dawgs, a group that performs during basketball games and gymnastics meets, dance lively routines to keep the crowd upbeat. The halftime entertainment at each game differs, and at both the women’s and men’s games on Friday, November 11, 2011, much to the crowd’s delight, the halftime show featured a group of men who are pros at slam dunks off of a trampoline. Both groups were a lot of fun to shoot and were a definite crowd-pleaser.

Young Choreographers

Monday, November 7, 2011, I photographed a dress rehearsal for the University of Georgia department of dance’s 2011 Young Choreographers Series Senior Exit Concert. The show consists of original pieces choreographed by five seniors, each work entirely different from the others. Styles ranged from classical ballet, modern, upbeat jazz and cathartic contemporary.

“A Tangled Tale” by Chrystola Oseni

“Tre Sidor” by Katie Wesche

“Borrowed, Blue, Old, Then New” by Rebecca Pogue

“Complex Reality” by Mallory Keeble

“Roots” by Anna Bracewell

Monday

On Monday night I will photographing a dress rehearsal for the University of Georgia Department of Dance’s 2011 Young Choreographers Series Senior Exit Concert. The show will feature original works by five seniors and will go toward the completion of their degree in dance. I’m very excited to shoot the rehearsal and will post photos after!

Carry On

I love digging through the archives of The New York Times’ Lens Blog and finding those treasures of stories which, though a bit dated, remain powerful nonetheless.

I entered the word “dance” into the search bar and came across a story about a dancer in Haiti who lost a leg in the earthquake that ravaged the country in 2010. After enduring the amputation of her right leg, Fabienne Jean, a former professional dancer, now has a prosthetic limb that has allowed her to regain a sense of normalcy in her life in the wake of such widespread tragedy. Although Jean admits that she is unable to continue as a “professional performer,”she still incorporates dance exercises and techniques into her physical therapy treatments.

Photographer Damon Winter visited Haiti a year after the earthquake to take portraits of Haitians who are working to rebuild their lives. Winter captured a photo of Jean, taken after the more formal shots, in which she laughs as she holds her prosthetic limb over her shoulder. This candid image tells Jean’s story in a way a posed photo cannot it shows hope, strength and a will to recover from a life-changing event. The ability to professionally dance, Jean’s passion and livelihood, was cruelly taken away, yet through this photo we can truly see her character and that the spark has not gone out.

Fishboy

Last Saturday night, October 15, I had the opportunity to take photos at Popfest, a multi-day music festival held in downtown Athens, Ga., that features musicians from around the country. While shooting Fishboy, an indie-pop band from Denton, Texas, my eye was continually drawn to the group’s keyboard, percussion and horns player, Adam “Sweatpants” Avramescu, as he energetically danced all over the stage. Avramescu put all of his force into everything he did throughout the show, whether he was excitedly shaking a tambourine or playing a simple chord on the keyboard. At times it seemed he just could not contain his passion for his music, an enthusiasm that, much to the audience’s delight, eventually led him to do back rolls on stage at the conclusion of the set and solidify a highly entertaining performance.

Dance to the Music

Last Friday night I found myself shooting another high school football game. I was shadowing photojournalist Michelle Campbell of The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala., and on our list of things to do was taking photos of a football game in Hueytown, Ala. between Hueytown High School and Fairfield High School, from Fairfield, Ala. Although there was a distinct tension in the air as both teams were undefeated, everyone in the stadium was fired up and enthusiastically cheering for their side.

As the buzz on the clock pierced the air loudly and beckoned both teams to the locker rooms, the action on the field did not stop. The Fairfield marching band took the spotlight and performed an exciting routine for their team. Everyone on the field was dancing rhythmically to the music they were playing, not missing a beat. The show even featured a girl twirling a baton lit by fire on both ends, something I had never seen before from a high-school band.

On Hold

On Tuesday, October 4, I visited Whole: Mind. Body. Art., a center in downtown Athens, Ga., that facilitates mental and physical enrichment to photograph a group of women who gather together once a week to freestyle dance. The group, known as Dance Dance Party Party, was to have their first “party” of the year on Tuesday after a brief hiatus. I walked up the narrow set of stairs and into the dimly-lit room where the group was to meet and was greeted by two women, one of which was the organizer, Caitlyn Hardy. After waiting for about 20 minutes, we finally came to the conclusion that no one was coming to the meeting this week.

I plan to wait a few weeks and return to Dance Dance Party Party after Hardy has spread the word some more throughout the community. I think it will be very interesting to watch a group of adult women completely let loose and enjoy themselves for an hour before retreating back to the daily grind.

Caitlyn Hardy poses in a studio at Whole: Mind. Body. Art. where Dance Dance Party Part will gather.

A Bygone Era

I found an extremely interesting post in The New York Times’ Lens Blog archives that showcases documentary work done by Michael Abramson exploring the nightlife in Chicago’s South Side in the 1970s. Abramson found himself the only white man in an all-black blues club one night in 1974, and the rest is history. He continued to venture to these various clubs and immerse himself in this distinct culture in which patrons danced and drank “to forget whatever troubles or successes you might have.”

While looking through Abramson’s images, I was particularly struck by the range of emotions conveyed. He stresses the importance of going deeper in your coverage of a subject: “There’s not much going on in a barroom, but if you go close, subtle things become beautiful.”

Flagline

I spent some time with the UGA Redcoat Flagline, a group I did not know much about, during their practice on Tuesday, September 13, 2011. These girls fuse classic dance technique with the twirling, throwing and catching of large flags, all with the eyes of hundreds of football fans on them every Saturday.

Celebration

On Friday, September 9, 2011, I had the opportunity to shoot a Cedar Shoals High School football game with some of my peers as part of a Grady sports journalism venture. The Cedar Shoals Jaguars won the game 28-14 and a celebratory spirit instantly filled the air. As soon as the game ended, the girls on the school’s flagline took their place in front of the stands and danced to the music played by the marching band. You couldn’t help but smile while watching these girls come together with the rest of Cedar Shoals community to commemorate their victory.