Today the “wildlife” consists of Homo sapiens displaying a behavior characteristic of only this one species: dancing. These dance photos come from Doug Hayes of Richmond, Virginia, creator of “The Breakfast Crew” of bird photos. Doug’s captions and narrative are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. Information about the shooting itself as well as the camera and lighting used can be found at the bottom of the page.
These photos are from the latest shoot I did for my friend Starrene Foster and her company, Starr Foster Dance. They were intended for updating the company website as well as publicity for their upcoming show, “Curious Intentions”. The show will run for five performances, April 11 – 14, 2024 at Richmond’s Firehouse Theater. The show will feature the premiere of two new works, “Adjusting to the Dark” and “Familiar Stranger”. “Adjusting to the Dark” will feature performances by several guest dancers from the community (see the photos here). The costumes were designed and sewn by Starr, who is a talented designer and seamstress in addition to her incredible work as choreographer and artistic director of the company.
The cast of “Adjusting to the Dark”. Costumes designed and sewn by Starrene Foster:
The tricky part for this shot was getting everyone off the floor at the same time. There were several attempts where one or more dancers were either slower or faster than the rest of the group. They nailed this one:
SFD company members (L to R) Shannon Comerford, Fran Beaumont and Madison Ernstes:
SFD company member Molly Huey:
Janelle Ragland is an intern with the company for the 2023/2024 season as well as a guest performer who will appear in Adjusting to the Dark:
Angela Palmisano originally joined SFD in 2014. Angela has been dancing since the age of two:
Olivia Gotsch, a guest dancer who will perform in Adjusting to the Dark:
Cassidy Kinney, a guest dancer who will perform in Adjusting to the Dark:
Another beautiful leap by Cassidy:
Julia Straka, a guest dancer who will perform in Adjusting to the Dark:
Roya Baker-Vahdani, a guest dancer who will perform in Adjusting to the Dark:
Below: four frames from a ten-frame continuous burst captured of Cassidy Kinney jumping. Basically, me showboating with new technology. This “shotgun” approach to capturing movement almost guarantees nailing the perfect moment. Almost! A lot can happen in that fraction of a second between frames: expressions may change, the dancer may blink, a hand or foot may move an inch or so from the perfect position. Dance photography still requires a trained eye and quick reflexes to react to that decisive moment. We ended up using frame #2.
Shooting information: This photo shoot is also the first one I have done since upgrading my studio lighting with newer, more modern and powerful units. Previous shoots used nearly 35-year-old White Lightning brand monolights (self-contained flash units that ran on AC power instead of a massive power pack with yards of cords attached to the flash heads – monolights were a big advance at the time). The new monolights are made in China and marketed under several American brands with minor cosmetic or software changes (mine are Westcott brand). Although rated at 600-watt seconds light output, simply swapping the stock reflector to a larger reflector increases the light output to 600-watt seconds. They are completely wireless, powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and controlled by a radio transmitter which attaches to the camera’s hot shoe. The radio controller is capable of simultaneously firing 20 flash units on each of its 32 channels or changing the light output and flash duration of the units on each channel. The new units also take advantage of the camera’s electronics and offer manual, TTL (through the lens) light output control (in TTL mode, changing the camera’s aperture automatically changes the light output for proper exposure); high speed sync for shutter speeds higher than the 1/250th of a second which is the norm with most modern digital cameras; and extremely short flash durations (Freeze Mode) – useful for photographing speeding bullets, water drops and other extremely fast movement – such as dancers! In “Freeze Mode”, the flash can actually sync with the camera’s burst rate of 30 frames per second, limited by the autofocus system and the speed of the lens being used (Frame rate slows while autofocus tracks or when used with older lenses with heavier internal lens elements or slower focus motors). Even so, I am able to get ten or more perfectly exposed shots in a one second burst using the older 24 -105 “kit lens”!
Camera information: Sony A1 body set for external flash and H+ burst mode, ISO 800, Sony 24 – 105 lens, four Westcott FJ400 monolights (set to “Freeze Mode”), Westcott FJ-X3 S wireless flash trigger for Sony cameras. All photos shot at ISO 800, 1/320th sync speed, f/8 – 14. Noise reduction with Topaz Photo AI plugin in Adobe Photoshop.
Refreshing variation on the theme!
Great photos!
Great shots! A question or two…Is dancing in humans like those of other species? Don’t some birds, reptiles and other mammals dance for mating, power, and joy?
Yes, I was going to comment on that too. Many birds and animals dance. Here’s an aptly titled video, “Birds can Dance”:
Some star performers, the famous dance of the cranes:
Birds of Paradise:
Manakins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o42C6ajjqWg
Yes but this isn’t “dance” in the human sense as pure entertainment, right? It’s probably a form of sexual selection, in which case TONS of birds dance. Now I know that there are some evo psych people who think human dance originated to get mates, but I doubt that this kind of modern dance, done largely by women, is an atavistic expression of that trait (and in the wrong sex).
Certianly I agree with you that the analogy is not exact. Bird dances are much more stereotyped than human dances. And in birds the male is often the main participant. Yet there are many species in which both the males and females participate equally, like the grebes and eagles and cranes in the videos above. This to me closely resembles the most common kind of human dance, a male and female moving together in coordinated ways, either establishing a connection between themselves or not, depending on how well the dance is performed. Success often leads to mating.
Maybe the analogy breaks down in the kind of human dancing photographed here, where people are moving just for pleasure.
Thanks Doug. Four-photo burst was interesting: at first, to my untrained eye, I thought it was four copies of the same shot, but after reading your caption, it was really nice to find detailed differences over what is likely less than a second of Cassidy’s jump.
That is a great set. It is interesting to me that the dancers’ faces are all so calm and composed as they leap through the air.
Humans in flight! Beautiful.
Truly superb. An amazing convergence of human talent: the artistic and athletic talent of the dancers, the technological talent of those who designed and built the sophisticated equipment to capture the wonderful images of the dancers, and, of course, the talent of the photographer.
Very nice.
Very enjoyable, thanks. Terrific photography.
Grand pas de chat 🐱🩰