This guest post is by Visithra Manikam is a photographer based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Dance has been one of my favorite subjects to shoot and I’m particularly fond of shooting live performances but they’re not the easiest to shoot. There’s myriad expressions, body language, hand gestures and fast movements to keep you busy.

Planning and knowledge helps to make a dance performance shots look extraordinary. So how is a live dance performance different from shooting a music concert and what should you look out for?

The Venue

Auditoriums, community halls, small function rooms each have different space and restrictions to work around. So arrive early and plan your shoot with the organizer if possible. Or, find a seat with a good shooting range. Check out the stage light settings so you can gauge where the light will fall.

The No Flash Rule

Usually we’re requested not to use flash, even if it’s an off body set up as it may distract the dancers. Unless you’re doing motion blur shots of the dancers, use a higher ISO so that you can shoot at a reasonable shutter speed as dancers are usually quick and swift on their feet. Plus unless you have a light set up on the stage it’s totally useless to shoot with a flash from a seated auditorium setting. Do remember moving right up at the stage may just get you doused by rotten eggs [grin]

Pick A Strategic Spot

You’re usually requested to shoot from one location throughout the duration of the event as to not distract the audience. So again arrive early and pick a good spot to station yourself without blocking others. I know I keep repeating this but it really matters. Sometimes you may encounter other photographers who block everyone’s view by standing, so try to get them to politely move or just get up and move because it can be impossible to explain to someone they’re a disturbance.

Knowledge

A technically perfect shot is useless if the photo is caught at the wrong time. Hand gestures, expressions and body movement play a big part in getting a good photo. A dancer usually holds a pose only for a few seconds and sometimes executes a dozen poses and movements in less than 30 seconds. So unless you have knowledge of the style of dance, watch and time your clicks so that you get the right shots. A shot of a dancer’s hands in between a pose would just look clumsy and no dancer would want that. Read any information you can on the dance style beforehand so you can anticipate their moves.

Lighting Crew

Your photos can he helped or hurt depending on how good the lighting crew are. If they’re fond of flashing different colored lights on the dancer you’re going to have white balance issues with funky colored photos. Work with the situation and try to correct your white balance during the shoot rather than once you’re back as editing those images can be a pain. I’m always shooting events where the lighting crew love to flash red during an angry expression scene – problem is red drowns out the expression so much sometimes I just wanted to strangle the crew [grin]

Backgrounds

Keep them clean, so plan your location based on what’s on the background. Community hall performances tend to have a lot of decorations and words in the background, so try to minimize their appearance in the shot as it will be distracting. You can of course use them to your advantage in some cases.

Stage Lights

If they are prominent and stream out interesting ray trails, use them in your compositions. It will give your shoots an added edge. By switching your angles and compositions according to the dance movements you can help dramatise your shots using these lights.

Watch

Don’t forget to watch the performance while you’re getting the photos, dance can inspire you in your other photography work. Watch their minute expressions and body movement to incorporate into your other photography work.

So plan ahead and brush up on your dance knowledge and you’ll be getting the shots in no time.

This event promises to be electric. Nayikas, an Indian dance company begins its third year with a performances from March 15-19, 2005. The performances are presented by The Rubin Museum of Art in association with Indo-American Arts Council.

For those who don't know, Nayikas is NYC's first resident Indian Odissi dance theater company. The show in March will take place at The Rubin Museum of Art, which is located at 150 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011. For the March 17 & 18 performances at 7 pm, tickets are $25 (student & seniors $18, subject to availability), for the March 19 show at 3 p.m., tickets are $25 (student & seniors $18, subject to availability).

Performances will kick off with a special Gala Premiere on March 15 at 7 pm, where tickets are $175 including museum entrance, admission to same day performance, after-show dinner event with live entertainment & celebrity guests. There are various ticket options. Please call 212-620-5000 ext. 344, purchase at The Rubin Museum of Art Admissions Desk or online.

Subway lines B, D, F, V, 1, 2, 3, 9, A, C, E or PATH to 14th St. (bet. 6th & 7th).

Nayikas Dance Theater Company's sensual, hypnotic, compelling movements challenge the dancer and captivate audiences, demonstrating the power of Odissi, India's oldest Classical dance form. Now in its third year, Nayikas is the first resident South Asian company of its kind in New York. Known for its startlingly modern theatrical dance pieces, the group's latest offering, “Glow,” will be presented by the Rubin Museum of Art in association with the Indo-American Arts Council. Performances are on March 17 and 18 at 7 pm, and March 19 at 3 pm at the Rubin, New York‚s newest museum. The performance series kicks off with a special Gala Premiere on March 15, featuring fusion cuisine dinner, live entertainment, and celebrity guests.

“Glow” is Nayikas' new multimedia, experimental dance theater project. It uses dance as well as radiants of South Asian culture – cinema, comic book images and calendar art – to aid in visually mapping elements of popular consciousness to the abstractness of classical forms. It exposes ruptures in traditional understandings of text and philosophy while exploring spirituality and sensuality through the dancer's body. The simple act of women adorning themselves “glows” with the pulse of the feminine divine, as does the graceful movement of hips swaying, of feet reverberating. A new sense of woman, of body, and of the spiritual is realized when Gods defy gendered classification, and the demonic divine coexists with the sensual feminine.

Nayikas means “heroines” in the Sanskrit language, and that's just what this dance troupe is comprised of – heroic, groundbreaking dance artists. The ensemble's blending of Classical and contemporary influences makes them distinct on the dance scene. Artistic Director & Choreographer Myna Mukherjee (profiled last season in The New York Times) gives the traditional movements a modern and urban flair. Nayikas tell stories that resurrect often neglected, alternate voices of women, drawing from feminist iconography present in the footnotes of Indian mythology, history, literature and Diaspora. This preserves the essential spiritual core of the dance form while envisioning gender equality, advocating women's rights and promoting diversity of imagination in “Hindu” cultures beyond the often-patriarchal religiosity of these traditions. Company repertoire typically borrows narratives from the Tantric and Buddhist pantheon of a female-centered cosmos, while exploring themes of divinity, sexuality and humanity. It seeks new space within traditional boundaries: using the stage as partner and instrument to create symmetry within asymmetric spatial patterns; and infuses classical grammar with the compelling physicality of Yoga and Chauu Martial Art movements.

Principal dancer Sunanda Sammadar, along with ensemble dancers Anurima Banerji, Aditi Dhruv, Punchali Khanna, Shrooti Singh, Kirti Srivastava, and Pavithra Vasudeven, are from incredibly diverse backgrounds, with extensive training in Indian classical dance – predominantly Odissi and Bharatnatyam, but also Yoga, Ballet, Modern, and Martial Arts. The style is a conflux of two seminal lineages, that of Guru Deba Prasad Das/Guru Durga Charan Ranbir (with tribal and yogic roots); and; that of Guru Maya Dhar Raut/Guru Dibankar Kuntia (renowned for evocative & languid syntax). Performance credits include amongst others The Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Brooklyn Museum of the Arts, Queens Museum, the MET in Soho, Chashama Theater, and Yale University.

The Indo-American Arts Council is dedicated to promoting and building an awareness of all artistic disciplines in classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India. We work cooperatively with colleagues both in the United States and in India, to showcase and facilitate the exhibition, performance and production of their work in the US, to broaden our collective audiences, and to create a network for shared information and resources. www.iaac.us

The Rubin Museum of Art is New York's newest museum. Opened on October 2nd, 2004, it is the first museum in the Western World dedicated to the art of the Himalayas and surrounding regions. The museum's mission is to establish, present, preserve and document a permanent collection that reflects the vitality, complexity and historical significance of Himalayan art. The museum also seeks to create an environment in which a dynamic between the performing and the visual arts can bring about a dialogue that enriches both exhibition visitor and theater audience.

Mark your calendar and pack your dhol. The Boston Bhangra Competition, which brings bhangra teams from across the US and Canada, will be on Saturday, November 13, 2004 at 6.30 at the John Hancock Hall, 180 Berkeley St., Boston. For more information visit the Boston Bhangra web site.

At the Joyce SoHo (in NYC) this week (June 25/26) Preeti Vasudevan and Thresh, a Brooklyn-based dance theatre company she founded will perform “Strings Unattached.”

“Strings Unattached, inspired by ancient texts, involves three contemporary pieces linked not by theme, but by musical instruments, violin and cello.”

For more information, go to Thresh's home page.

Via Sanjay Cherubala

Preeti Vasudevan‘s new dance company Thresh is on its way to India for four weeks.

Thresh is an international group that creates projects revealing crossovers and exchanges at cultural boundaries. Its unique group consists of independent artists, designers and choreographers each recognized for their contributions in the field of performing arts. Thresh's form of dance-theatre expresses a dialogue with the present, yet remains in constant conversation with traditions of the past. Thresh strives to create discussion between artists from different parts of the world and to keep the path of constant exchange alive.