FLASH #30 – Lens / LENS

Few artists are more dedicated to their craft than dancers, their work ethic is unparalleled and this is revealed in the beauty, strength and delicacy of their instruments: their bodies. Capturing all this on camera is never an easy task but for young aspirant professional dancers, high quality photographs and video material are vital since they will make up a portfolio illustrating their individual dance talents when sent out to companies world-wide. It’s on the strength of this that they will be invited / or not to audition and so determine their possible future career(s).

Workshop Philipe Lens at Junior Ballet Antwerp

Junior Ballet Antwerp artistic director, Alain Honorez, always places strong emphasis on showing his dancers in the best possible light. Not only is that important for them but also essential for the good image of his young company. To this end and since the birth of JBA Alain has relied on a young photographer, Nicha Rodboon (herself until only recently a professional dancer), for his artists’ audition shots.

Join us in this FLASH #30, for a talk with Alain and Nicha as they reveal some of the important aspects which make up a successful photographic session.

Alain: “What I love about Nicha is that she starts her shoots in a very tranquil, chill atmosphere in order to relax the dancers and set them at ease. Together they discuss the outfits and when all is decided, we look at the best possible poses for each individual JBA artist.”

Nicha: “Yes, because sometimes a great movement doesn’t work for the camera so then, together with Alain & Altea, we may have to come up something else.”

Alain: “Nicha has such great eye! She might change the angle in which the shot is taken so that it flatters the final lines of the dancer. Here, her ballet background is truly invaluable! And then of course there is the lighting, creating a sensitive setting so that the model really ‘stands out.”

Nicha: “We actually like to use very simple lighting, usually with it coming from one side only, so that we can catch the center of the body as well as create shadows on limbs and muscles. When a dance picture is overly lit it tends to look flat!”

Alain: “I find it amusing, seeing how qualitative & expensive the photos look in the end, while knowing that the reflector lamps which we always use were found at a flea market for literally a song! But apart from this it takes a former professional dancer to really capture the motion of movement and on top of which, what I consider to be a JBA hallmark, for the artistry and dance quality to shine out.”

Nicha: “While the past decades have seen a vast improvement in dance photography, mainly due to digital wizardry, I am however still shooting with my 10 yr old camera! I also love to shoot and deliver my photos in black & white. But my main goal is for every photo to reveal the true dancer as if seen with the naked eye.”

SHIFTING FOCUS

After an arduous few weeks of shooting audition portfolios, the general stress level is high and bodies/muscles are very taut.

Time to focus on something else!

Like a breath of fresh air, Philipe Lens (dancer with Opera Ballet Flanders and graduate of the Royal Ballet school Antwerp) arrived to conduct a four-day workshop based on the repertoire/technique of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Philipe is not only a very talented dancer but has proven to be a natural teacher as well. The hyper-mobility demanded of Cherkaoui’s movement flows through his body and Lens, with his impish easy expertise and charm, knows instinctively how to extract this from the dancers he works with. In no time limbs began to relax, tension was released and laughter and smiles were the order of the day.

This new learning experience under the eye of another expert resulted in some intriguing, musical performances during a week to remember.