The Process

The process for each portrait includes building a relationship with the subject(s), and then jointly deciding on a location, costuming, and music. On the filming day, I ask the dancers to improvise movement, and I film from multiple angles, improvising my camera actions in response to their movements, shadowing their dance with one of mine own. I then spend many dozens of hours in the editing suite distilling the material into a portrait that becomes its own entity. My goal is that each portrait is an honest reflection of the dancers’ style, yet in a more heightened and condensed form than their live dancing, bringing their most essential qualities into tight focus. I am a one-person operation, which means that I wear all the cinema hats (e.g., director, location scout, lighting designer, cinematographer, editor, colorist, etc). The bare-bones nature of my filmmaking leads to limitations in production quality, but in exchange, it enables me to develop a more intimate exchange with the artists that I hope translates to more intimate portraits.  

The project is ongoing with expected completion in spring 2024.