Lens on Dance

 

 

 

Watching from the wings—it’s what all dancers do. But seen through a photographer’s lens, that perspective can provide an unexpected bit of poetry. The camera can catch the underside of the choreography, revealing a completely different angle from what the audience sees. Rose Eichenbaum takes us to that vantage point in her latest project, From the Wings: A Photographer’s Personal Journey. Over a period of seven years, she’s shot performances of more than 35 companies in a host of venues, mostly in California and at Jacob’s Pillow. We chose a sample of the photos that will be on exhibit from this June to next June at the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, NY. See www.dancemuseum.org.

 

 

 

 

Nederlands Dans Thea
ter II in Kylián’s
Sleepless, with its intriguing shadowplay, Jacob’s Pillow, 2007. The dancer is Javier Monzón, now with Compañia Nacional de Danza.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in
Elemental Brubeck, Skirball Center, NYU, 2005. The dancer is Rasta Thomas, of course!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eiko & Koma with students from the Reyum Painting Collective in
Cambodian Stories, Skirball Cultural Center, L.A., 2006. “During a cold snap in April, the audience seated around the Skirball’s reflecting pool wore winter coats. But Eiko, Koma, and their students took no notice of the evening chill and 50-degree temperature of the water.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alberta Ballet in
The Fiddle and the Drum, by artistic director Jean Grand-Maître, with music by Joni Mitchell, Irvine Barclay Theatre, CA, 2010. The dancers are Patrick Doe and Laëtitia Clément.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rennie Harris’ Puremovement in
Students of the Asphalt Jungle, Alys Stephens Center, Birmingham, AL, 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pilobolus in
B’zyrk, choreographed by Jonathan Wolken in collaboration with Andrew Herro, Jeffrey Huang, Jun Kuribayashi, Jenny Mendez, Manelich Minniefee, Edwin Olvera, and Annika Sheaff, UC Santa Barbara, 2007. The dancers are Herro, Kuribayashi, Mendez, Minniefee, Olvera and Sheaff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carla Körbes of Pacific Northwest Ballet in Forsythe’s
In the middle, somewhat elevated, McCaw Hall, Seattle, 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Batsheva Dance Company in
Three, by artistic director Ohad Naharin, UCLA’s Royce Hall, 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rose Eichenbaum is the author of
Masters of Movement: Portraits of America’s Great Choreographers and The Dancer Within: Intimate Conversations with Great Dancers. Her upcoming book, The Actor Within, is due from Wesleyan University Press this year.