Thursday, July 8, 2010

Suspended Animation




I love the way photography weaves together with life as it flows on.

My daughters, my niece, and several of their friends are dancers. I have marveled at watching them grow, from tiny exuberant fairies, tip-toeing their way across the stage, into elegant souls powerfully expressing the passion that resides within. With creativity and intense vitality, they captivate the eyes, hearts, and minds of their audiences. I know my life is richer for having watched the girls dance over the years.

For the last several months, I have been photographing a budding dance company with whom one of my daughters dances. It is difficult to capture all that dance has to say in a still photo, because of the very nature of the art form being about movement. So, I try to find an instant within the dance, where our imagination is suspended, like the drop of water on the tip of a blade of grass just before it falls. There we might sense, a little anyway, the nature of the water....

Helix Dance Theatre was started in the fall of 2009 by two experienced, talented dancers (Sarah DeVito and Kortney Hunchuk) from Vancouver Island, on a mission. The results were stunning. Dance enthusiasts might want to keep an eye out for their tour schedule next spring.

In the meantime, watch some dance wherever you are. The dancers always appreciate an audience. Or...dance!


To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak.
~Hopi Indian Saying


Upper photo: Celina, Elya, Bronwyn
Lower photo: Emily, Kristen, Clare