My introduction to photography sessions was with my high school friend Charlotte. She was in a class at school and wanted practice, so we put on my ballroom dance costumes and ran around a creek near my house. She was a ballerina too, and the discipline and poetry of the positions guided most of the photos we took that day. So you could say dance photography was kind of the beginning for me. Like dance, I learned photography was a combination of stillness and perceived movement. I admire dancers so much for their precision and artistry--so I was thrilled to return to my roots and snap a session with Michaela!
Michaela is a seventeen year-old ballerina with a dream to dance. We took a stroll through downtown Buena Vista, VA with some of her old pointe shoes and I learned she has not only danced in Shenandoah Ballet's The Little Mermaid, Copelia and several productions of The Nutcracker, but she has trained with accomplished professional dancers such as Valery Lantratov. She also makes an elegant Spiderman AND a poised and thought-provoking tree (since the City of Buena Vista insisted on eradicating them downtown, hmpf)!
I asked Michaela at the end of our shoot, "If you could put why you dance into three words, what would they be?" "I love it," she said instantly. Bam. That's what it all boils down to. And she gets it at seventeen.
Choose your love, love your choice. That's my mantra here. And today as I think about those two girls running by the creek with a dinky point and shoot, I add Choose to dance and love it. Thanks Michaela! :)
#buenavistava #urban #ballet #portrait #individualportraitsession #portraits #bio #ballerina #dancephotography #dance #dancers #downtown #shenandoahvalley #shenandoahballet #thenutcracker #tree #spiderman #chooseyourlove #loveyourchoice #buenavistacitylibrary #buenavistaoffices #pointe #pointeballet #lensflare #brick #blackandwhitephotos #blackandwhite #inthewings #treesinbuenavista #va