Early on in the process with Sydni, she had expressed that she’d been hard on herself as a younger dancer, and she was ready to capture images that she could be proud of. I resonated with that, a lot of us dancers can carry that self critical perspective, especially when we are younger.

More importantly, she was wanting to capture herself authentically for who she was now, someone who was greatly passionate about her art form and wanted to pass it along to the next generation.

When the Music Changed Everything

We had decided to experiment with several different poses early on and then move on to improvisation. At some point during our improv set we put on her favorite song, ‘The Visitor’ by Sienna Spiro. In that moment, as Sydni began to move, I saw her initiating from somewhere else, and I felt the energy shift. The movement stopped feeling like posing and much more like Sydni being herself as an artist. I always want to affirm my clients when I see them succeeding in this way, so said ‘I see you’, referring to the fact that I really felt Sydni’s authenticity coming through. She laughed, and we kept shooting. Those are the moments I remember the most when I’m working with dancers. The ones where the session stops being a session and starts being something closer to honesty.

Sydni told me afterward that she felt like we captured her authentically. That’s the thing I most wanted to hear. The portraits we created showed a dancer who has stopped criticizing herself and started accepting it, and thats what mattered most.

If you’re interested in dance photography like this, please reach out. I’d love to hear from you.

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Our collaborative partners:

• sydni.garber · @sydni.garber