For Scottish dance photographer Roy Campbell-Moore and choreographer Ann Sholem, ugliness is poetic beauty. Ready to capture images in their raw, elemental forms, the artistes believe they can see beauty in everything. In town to conduct a dance photography exhibition and workshop hosted by Thalam, the duo presented photographs as well as shared techniques of dance photography.
Titled ‘The Beauty And The Grit’, the project is an undertaking with seven different dance companies in Wales and India. While Roy’s images present the ‘beauty’ of the dance, Ann choreographs them. It also shows the ‘grit’ of the rehearsal.
A professional dance photographer since 2002, Roy has been producing a wide range of work with British and international contemporary dance choreographers and published books. Ann who is the creative producer for initiatives like the Wales Dance Platform, Cascade Dance Theatre and An Indian Triumph (motorbike and dance film based in India, is also the former director of the National Dance Company of Wales along with Roy.
Ann says: “A lot of the grit is about the situation we are taking pictures in. Its chaos and yet we are working something artistic and beautiful from a space that is dirty and gritty. Seeing beauty through the grit is the challenge. Normally a dance photographer takes elegant photos in a theatre. Our project is about taking dance in its raw form in unusual situations.”
A dancer himself, Roy says it’s important to be in the element and get dirty if you have to. “In visual art, ugly is known to be beautiful. Great artists dealt with ugly, subverted them and made it beautiful to see beauty in ugly themes. We wanted to try and do that with dance photography since ugliness is anyway a poetic beauty.”
Especially in places like India, dance is become wrapped in sentimental clichés. We are trying to break away from the aesthetic. It’s new and fresh and gets under the skin. Dance can deal with a range of issues that are not beautiful.”
Ann says for photographers to learn how to shoot dance, they need to have dancers in front of them. “I’m choreographing all the dancers on the same theme of beauty and grit which the photographers capture. At the end of the workshop, we will have our 10 minute piece which the photographers will shoot for the next exhibition.”
Starting off at ballet school, the duo say their journey has taken them through many places. “This project gave us a new start. We are questioning and exploring our own art form and at the same time sharing and helping others develop their careers,” says Ann.
On what they expect people to pick up from their workshops, Roy says people will learn to be relaxed around dancers. “People will learn to decide for themselves and help each other develop their art forms,” Ann adds.
Roy tells dance photographers, “Dance and dance photography give an adrenaline rush. You need to live on the edge and be hyperactive.”
