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| Béatrice Larrivée & Noa Lee Ashkenazi - August 2023 |
One of my earliest memories is of my mother telling me that when she and my father went dancing in clubs on Leandro N. Alem in Buenos Aires everybody would stop to watch them dance the tango. “Alex, one day you will dance as well as your father.”
That never happened. In high school in Austin, Texas, I was a wall flower. Somehow I managed to have one girlfriend who did not mind my two left feet.
Rosemary and I tried to learn the Argentine tango in
Vancouver. She quit because we were always in conflict as to who was the worst
dancer. I became an efficient ( and no more) tango dancer. My father would have remained silent had he seen me dance.
Our two daughters took ballet and quit. Our two granddaughters stayed longer but quit in the end.
Ours is not a dancer family.
When I met up with Evelyn Hart in 1995 I fell for her and
for ballet. When our youngest daughter Lauren danced at the Arts Umbrella Dance
Company for 6 years I was given carte blanche to photograph dancers backstage
and anywhere else. I loved the opportunity.
I believe I became a very good dance photographer. It has been in the last 10 years that thanks to my digital Fuji X-E1 and X-E2 that I was able to experiment and perfect what I call dance swirls. Since I am no longer working for non existing magazines I don’t have to take sharp photographs to identify the dancers.
But I have to explain that the dance system Gaga that these two dancers performed involves a blend of movement with theatrics. The expressions on their faces are important. That is lost in m swirls and blurs.
I think I am on a roll and at my age of 81 I am being invited to take photographs at Arts Umbrella in May. This is exciting and I think I feel a bit useful!
