Dance schools are a lot of work.
We spend an entire week at each dance school we photograph, bringing a very large part of our studio with us.
The ages range from toddler to teen, with the oldest students graduating high school. This means a lot of up and down, bending over and kneeling, squatting and standing tall.
My back, it is feeling the burn.
The little girls in tap shoes are the worst. I like watching tap. But dozens of screaming little girls in tap shoes running and playing on wooden floors in an echoing dance studio, I could do without.
The poses are mostly arranged by the teachers, with minor tweaking and suggestions by us. Sometimes it’s pretty fast-paced; others we get a little frustrated at the slow teachers backing up the schedule.
But at the end of the night, when things are winding down, I can slow down a little. I can experiment a little.
I can take the time to fine-tune a pose, or try something completely different than a typical dancer’s pose. Something that will make the dancer and the mother look at the preview picture and say “wow”.
And that makes it all worth it.