Dance Photographer Rosalie O’Connor Shares Her Most Significant Photos

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4 days ago

What does the world appear to be by way of the eyes of a dance photographer? On this new sequence, a number of the area’s most gifted photographers will share pictures from their archives which are particularly compelling or significant to them, even when they haven’t been printed beforehand. First up is Rosalie O’Connor, who danced with American Ballet Theatre for 15 years, and had begun to {photograph} dance whereas nonetheless performing. Since retiring from the stage in 2002, she’s turn out to be one of many dance world’s most in-demand photographers, constructing a prolific and various physique of labor.

▲I’ve been photographing Catherine Hurlin since she was 10 years previous. I simply suppose the world of her as a dancer and as an actress. This specific picture is so alive—it’s the very peak, the very peak, of the second.

Boston Ballet’s Ji Younger Chae rehearsing Tiler Peck’s Level of Departure. Photograph by Rosalie O’Connor, Courtesy Boston Ballet.

▲What’s actually essential to me is to point out the method, in addition to the front-of-house completed product. This legwarmers second from a costume rehearsal jogged my memory of the well-known Harvey Edwards “Leg Heaters” poster. The colours! I simply love the colours.

Boston Ballet’s Daniel Rubin and Ji Younger Chae in Crystal Pite’s *The Seasons’ Canon*. Photograph by Rosalie O’Connor, Courtesy Boston Ballet.

Two dancers on stage dancing against an orange-lit backdrop. One supports the other as they arch backwards. — Boston Ballet’s Daniel Rubin and Ji Younger Chae in Crystal Pite’s *The Seasons’ Canon*. Photograph by Rosalie O’Connor, Courtesy Boston Ballet.

▲I’d beforehand solely seen Crystal Pite’s work on video, and I used to be so excited to {photograph} it in Boston. The lighting on this piece is admittedly attention-grabbing, the way it modifications—initially I believed it was digital, nevertheless it’s not. And the dancers attacked the choreography with all the pieces that they had. It has loads of coronary heart.

AkaMya Tradition Group artist Kaelene Ashmore, a member of the Diné, Nat’oh Diné, Tachii’nii, and Tł’ááshchí’í clans, on the Lake Tahoe Dance Pageant. Photograph by Rosalie O’Connor, Courtesy Lake Tahoe Dance Pageant and AkaMya Tradition Group.

▲There have been two Native American dancers who blessed the bottom for the Lake Tahoe Dance Pageant on its opening evening, dancing not on the stage that had been constructed however on the precise floor. I’d by no means photographed something prefer it. I believed it was very stunning.

Juilliard dance college students in Omar Román De Jesús’ *EROICA*. Photograph by Rosalie O’Connor, Courtesy The Juilliard College.

▲I’ve labored for Juilliard since 2004, and it’s been this glorious relationship that has launched me to so many alternative choreographers. I believe this photograph seems to be a bit like a Seurat portray. And it’s a snow scene that’s not from Nutcracker.

Vernard J. Gilmore and Invoice T. Jones rehearsing *D-Man within the Waters*. Photograph by Rosalie O’Connor, Courtesy Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Invoice T. Jones.

▲I’d enterprise to say that about 95 p.c of my archive has by no means been seen, which sort of kills me—I believe it kills all photographers. I took a sequence of pictures of the Ailey firm rehearsing with Invoice T. Jones in 2013, for a particular venture. I don’t consider the images ever went anyplace. But it was one of the extraordinary rehearsals that I’ve personally ever witnessed.