Not Always Street

This past Saturday afternoon I had a very pleasant opportunity to photograph the dance groups of the Kat Wildish Showcase which performed at the Alvin Ailey Dance facility in Manhattan. The groups that performed consisted of non-professional dancers that were involved with the showcase for the pure joy and love of dancing. The performances glowed with exuberance.

The opportunity presented me with challenges I had not anticipated. I knew the lighting would be difficult and that I wouldn't be able to use a flash - I had to use a slow shutter speed and high ISO to be able to maintain some depth-of-field. The dancers' movements were very fast and sudden, and without having seen the performances previously, I missed opportunities because my shutter finger was a tenth of a second too slow. I had to try to anticipate without knowing for sure what was coming. And I had no freedom of movement - I was in the front row, but had no opportunity to move from my seat - dead center -  for varying perspective.

Here's a few shots from my first attempt at dance photography: