Lake Monticello Modern Dance Portraits in Gordonsville

I will admit that with all its grace and beauty, ballet has always been my preferred genre of dance,…but I think I may finally be “getting” the great allure of modern dance. In modern, there is an opportunity to explore emotions that aren’t as readily or obviously conveyed through ballet. Not everything in life is lovely and sweet and happy and nice, and in honor of being “real” and allowing dance to reflect the darker parts of life (and history) is a tremendously valuable phenomenon. When this pretty Lake Monticello dancer originally told me that she wanted dance portraits in her “white dress costume”, I felt like I had a clear idea of what type of posing and background I wanted to do. But when we got together and she showed me some of her dance and played the music (“Bottom of the River“), I realized that what I had in mind would not capture the essence of that dance for her at all…so we switched gears: different setting and vastly different posing (the weather was even on board with the new direction the session took: drizzling mournful rain and the heavy, humid air even felt burdensome)! I love that she is willing to indulge my (sometimes crazy) ideas! And the result documents the power of expressing some pretty heavy feelings and emotions through dance.

 

“In a society that worships love, freedom, and beauty, dance is sacred. It is a prayer for the future, a remembrance of the past and an exclamation of the present.” -Amelia Atwater-Rhodes