I have always wanted to photograph dance. Both traditional Indian classical dance as well as western ballet. Living in Chennai in South India, it is fairly easy to get opportunities to see seasonal classical dance shows of Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Katak in the winter months of October to January each year. These are held at ‘Sabahs,’ the local theatre for fine art performances and the shows usually have some sort of sponsorship to help meet costs.

Classical dance dates back to the 5th century and rock sculptures depicting it can be seen in ancient temples. It has evolved over centuries and survived through various dynasties that ruled India, including the East India Company that did not approve of this art form. Historically the dance was performed in temples, with the style varying depending on the ‘school of dance’ and the ‘guru’ under which the pupil studied. Each dance recital involves a huge amount of co-ordination with the venue, lighting director, musicians, costumes and of course the dancers themselves. A traditional dance performance involves years of training under a master before the student is ready for a stage performance. Usually, traditional south Indian families encourage their children as young as five to start learning so that they will be ready in ten to fifteen years’ time. The musicians and singer are equally talented with many of the leading musicians having a Doctorate in classical music. The dance itself is storytelling with music, using hand, foot and eye gestures to convey emotion. It involves lots of fast movements, very precise steps and timing as well as calling for a high fitness level.

Classical dance is a popular subject for local photographers. Photography is usually permitted but no tripods or flash and you remain seated in the audience. Pick a seat near the middle so that you are head on to the stage..Corner or off-center seats dont work that well. The lighting can go from low key to very bright and sometimes coloured gel is used, casting changing coloured lights on the dancer. The backgrounds are usually black thereby separating the dancer from the background. This requires the use of spot metering so that the matrix metering does not compensate for the large black areas with no detail. My camera is the small mirrorless Fuji XE3 set at either a floating ISO of 400-1600 or a fixed ISO of 1600 or 3200 and with a 50-140 mm f2.8 lens set for manual exposure. Remember to switch off the LCD so that every shot does not pop up on screen disturbing people in neighbouring seats. Also it helps the battery last longer. Typically the exposure is usually around 1/250 at f5.6 which is a good place to start. A little under exposure is better than over exposure and burning the highlights. Shooting in burst mode of 3-6 fps captures the peak moments. Avoid the “pray and spray” technique. You only end up with a large number of useless images that clutter up your storage However, over the years I have learnt to anticipate the movement and now tend to use single shots fairly successfully. Capturing the peak moment also ensures the images are sharp as the dancer momentarily pauses. Traditional dance can also have multiple dancers on stage which can give some very nice compositions.

While dance itself can be an interesting storytelling experience, digital imaging takes it further in the post processing. It’s entirely up to the photographer how far you want to go. Dance is about movement captured in a still image. Use techniques like ‘mirroring’ and ‘motion blur’ to create selective blur of the hands or feet. It’s possible to create an image using layers where the principal dancer is sharp while the surrounding dancers are a blur. A slow shutter speed results in partial blur, usually the hands or feet that can enhance the image. It is a hit or miss approach. There is no limit to creativity..Living in Chennai you get plenty of opportunity to try shooting Classical Indian dance. You will come away with some lovely images.

My RAW conversion is done on an ageing MacBook Air running Affinity Photo and using a profiled EIZO 24 inch monitor. Images are backed up twice to Seagate high-capacity external drives and saved in labelled folders.