The Theater Is Dark. The Orchestra Is Booming. And The Audience Is Scarce, Save A Few Company Members.
One woman is hunched behind a camera in the center of the seats. It's a dress rehearsal at American Ballet Theatre, and Nancy Ellison is working her magic.
As the music plays and world-class dancers execute the movement, one sound permeates the ears of those in the theater—the clack of a camera shutter. The moments Ellison captures collect as files on a memory card; files that she will meticulously comb through afterward, looking for the emotion combined with the line of the body that add to the unique power a dance photograph can possess.
A collection of these photos can be seen in her new book, In Classic Style: The Splendor of American Ballet Theatre. The documentation of the company spans a year-and-a-half of performances, but Ellison only spent a total of twenty days shooting the photos. That's not to imply the process was a breeze. Capturing an art form (especially one that is defined by movement) through a collection of still photographs presents a challenge that only the most accomplished of photographers can tackle.
So what happens after the photographer's job is finished, when the book is published and the dancers are left to reflect on the results? Movmnt's Matthew Murphy sits down with the dancers of American Ballet Theatre to see what goes into making the magic that Ellison captures in her book.
See the whole story at Movmnt Magazine here.
