live4amoment

I've done ballet for many many years, but I never had a favorite ballerina until I moved to San Francisco. The first time I saw Yuan Yuan Tan of San Francisco Ballet I fell in love. And the more I see her the stronger the love grows. She has such gorgeous arms and legs and can move them in such a way that it looks beautifully foreign. She's not just a contemporary dancer though. She has wonderfully strong classical technique, but not just that, She can act!!! A talent that I find is way too underrated in the ballet world today. Her Giselle brings me to tears every time and her Odette/Odile is so well done people have actually thought that it was two separate people. She's a wonderful dancer with a spectacular gift. If you ever have the chance to see her I highly recommend it.

My favorite ballet photographer is Oliver Endahl. I'm a dancer myself and have done a few shoots with him for his ongoing "Ballet Zaida" photo series. His Zaida series consists mainly of outdoor ballet photos and photography studio shots, but he has done stage photography and ballet studio photography as well. He use to dance himself so he knows what makes a good line and what makes a bad line, which to a dancer like myself is one of the most important aspects of ballet photography. I think dance is about more than just the movement. It's about the feelings that are emitted during the movement. I think that Oliver is great because he is able to capture these feelings in his photography. I think his photos are more than just dancers hitting poses, I think they capture the essence of ballet that we all love so much. His Ballet Zaida series can be found here