Los Olivos Dance Gallery Centre Stage 2009: 300 Ballerinas

Last week I shot 300 ballerinas during the Los Olivos Dance Gallery Centre Stage 2009 annual performance recital in Solvang, California's Festival Theater. This was the third year I have done this as a volunteer in support of Artistic Director Maggie Mesikep. It is an awesome experience to watch these girls (and a few guys) perform ... sometimes I am so moved that I forget to press the shutter release. My daughter, Anna, age seven, just completed her third year as a dancer-in-training. I got involved when Mike Mesikep, husband of Maggie and Chief Photographer and Technical Director for the shows, lost his primary volunteer photographer as the result of a family tragedy and came to me as a possible participant. I agreed to shoot the dress rehearsal. It was a mistake ... but only in the best way: after that first experience I took vacation from my day job and shot for four days straight.

OK, now let me go back and correct a couple of things. First, it isn't just ballet ... I just say that because it appeals to me. There is ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, flamenco and I expect others that I am totally ignorant about. I am not a dance person. As for the shooting, Mike pretty much just says, "Come and do your thing" and I do. Many of you will know that I am the house photographer for the Entertainment Department at the Chumash Casino Resort and have a lot of experience shooting world class performers ... and my boss at the casino, Wayne Hurte, gives the same kind of management ... "Go do what you do!" I am quite comfortable shooting what amounts to a continual stream of "One time only and just for an instant" captures for which my 'Best in the World' Canon cameras work wonders. It is a gift many, many years in the making.

Festival Theater is almost a Theater-in-the-Round ... similar to what I think of as the Shakespearean setup with a stage that projects out into the audience but with a tall facade off one edge where lighting and dressing rooms exist. It is nestled almost in the middle of Solvang, California, which is a pseudo-Danish tourist trap. The images from my 'Eye-in-the-Sky' (this year a Canon 5D Mark II with 24-105mm f/2.8L) are from as high in this facade as they will let me go.

This year I spent my hours sitting on a cold hard concrete step with a wool blanket as padding and no back support. Next year I'm getting a seat! I'm too old for this.

The performances include the dress rehearsal day with both juniors and seniors. The public performances are by juniors on Saturday morning and by seniors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. It is a huge production involving about half the little girls in the valley and their families ... there is a lot of family participation as Maggie and Mike make everyone feel essential and loved.

I shot using two Canon 1DMIII's bodies and a variety of lenses from 14mm f/2.8L to 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and including 16-35mm f/2.8L and 24-70mm f/2.8L. Selecting some example images to include with this blog entry is almost impossible. I have 1236 "Keepers" that I will provide to Mike on a DVD and from which I must select for here. I hope they are representative! You can click on the images in the blog post to see larger versions. For the technically inclined, the larger versions contain both EXIF and IPTC data for your persual.

I am already planning for next year. Mike and I are going to try to put a second 'Eye-in-the-Sky' camera in one of the very high lighting towers that sit up behind the amphitheater style seating ... the lighting provider says I'll have to wear a harness to climb the pole to the tiny little platform where the ellipticals are positioned, but it'll be worth it to capture images from directly above and from a high angle out front at the same time. I do have to remember to use bigger CF cards. This year I used 8GB and ran out of space. Next year I'll use 16GB or bigger. There's always something new to learn! The following photograph is a three frame panorama stitched together by Photoshop ... there's "errors" near the middle:

Below are Maggie and Mike with their daughter Hannah.

Travel safe!

Dwight