Cori Caulfield - The Ballerina that Smiles
Tuesday, October 04, 2016
A very tall Cori Caulfield came into my studio at the end of August
2001. She brought a big and red shiny apple and two outfits. She posed for
three different situations - one of them in her birthday suit. The folks at the
Georgia Straight who had assigned me to photograph her did not notice what some
of you might in the tear sheet. They ran that photograph.
The session had all to do with showcasing Caulfield’s
choreography based on Adam and Eve. I have often wondered what Genesis would
have turned out to be if the first munch on that apple had been Eve’s and not
Adam’s.
The very tight silver outfit was designed by a friend of
mine who used to be an ecdysiast called Mary Arnold. She designed many for
Caulfield.
Anybody who may have seen Crystal Pite dance (when she
danced and she really danced!) through the years might have not known that Cori
Caulfield was not only the only one who could keep up with her but was always
on par. In fact many of Pite's older pieces (when she danced in them) almost
always included Caulfield.
One of my favourite dance performances ever was one in
which Caulfield paired the young dancers from her school (all wearing powdered
wigs) in a Mozart piece in which the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra played at
the Old Auditorium at UBC.
Perhaps what most attracted me to Caulfield was her
delightful smile which she used to mask difficult moves.
It is my wish that before I hang up my cameras that
Caulfield come to my little Kitsilano studio to pose for me. She can wear
whatever she wants.
