Dance

It is I think, probably because of my brief but exciting (and exhausting) interlude as a dancer, during my youth, that I automatically felt completely at ease when photographing ‘Le dance’.

I was fortunate that my work included capturing the ‘greats’ of dance, from the classical beauty of the lovely, legendary Margot Fontyn, to the exciting earthiness of the company of Gypsy kids in the Jose Greco Flamenco dance company.

It was this natural rapport with dancers, whether Classical Ballet or Contemporary, which gave me an advantage as a photographer. I knew intimately, and understood, not only their particular ‘language’ but also their aching limbs, pre-performance adrenaline rush and nerves, even their individual frailties (and fears), as they stood on-stage, in nervous readiness and anticipation, behind that curtain, on opening nights.

Photographers in the theatre are not usually suffered gladly, due mostly, to their distracting influence. In dance this is especially the case but, somehow, because of my albeit brief sojourn as a dancer myself, I was accepted from the word go.

If I succeeded in occasionally getting good pictures, then I’m convinced it was their sense of my having "been there", which lead to me being accepted rather than just tolerated.