Dancers After Dark

One hundred photos that beautifully illustrate the potential of the human body and spirit. These photos of dancers and acrobats celebrate the hard work and the dedication it takes to succeed in dancing, acting, photography - or really any creative endeavor that at first may be incredibly frightening or make you feel vulnerable but once achieved offers an exhilaration previously unimagined. The photos are timed to begin at twilight - "where night begins and dreams are spun" - and proceed through sunset to the dark of night, then into dawn. The accompanying text includes an introduction from the author, describing how he came to this idea, what he learned from the fearlessness of these dancers, and how he shot so many dancers in public and nude without being arrested (yet!). The text that accompanies the photos includes quotes, stories, inspiration from the dancers. From the author: "At its core, Dancers After Dark is about a willingness to say yes rather than no, about finding a passion and pursuing it without apprehension or doubt. The willingness of these performers to throw themselves into the streets without fear of failure (or incarceration) has led to results we could not have imagined. Celebrating their unadorned physiques allows the dancers to demonstrate their grace, strength, and perseverance. The quiet beauty of the dancers plays well against the fearlessness of the process. The more I shoot DAD and collaborate with spectacular dancers who have dedicated their every waking moment to a low-paying passion and whose careers end at 35 years old, the more this phrase gets stuck in my head: Fearless Beauty. The images, poses, bodies and settings are beautiful, but most importantly, the dancers' cool serenity in the face of intense circumstances (metaphorically and literally) is, for me, the definition of beauty. Their 'calm in the face of the storm' poise never fails to amaze me. The spontaneous and serendipitous process itself requires fearlessness from all the participants, including me." The photos were shot in the following locations: New York City; Baltimore; Washington, DC; Richmond, VA; Miami; Los Angeles; Steamboat Springs, CO; Chicago; Nashville; Philadelphia; St. Louis; Nyack, NY; Jersey Shore, Montreal, Paris, London, English countryside, Berlin, Amsterdam. Still to come: Miami, Toronto, San Francisco (redwoods!), Denver (mountains!), Burlington, VT (foliage), Las Vegas (red rocks, desert & awesome dancers), and Brazil (jungle, beach, everything). The dancers and performers featured - including Broadway star Alan Cumming and dancers from The New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, and The Parsons Dance Project - hail from around the country and the world. von Matter, Jordan