(male speaker) If you're just doing a piece, even as a dancer doing any ballet, if they were
just in it doing from one pose to the next to the next, the audience wouldn't
be moved, but if they really have … a thought of who the character is and
what's the story they're telling, then they're doing just that—telling a story.
The camera captures it to freeze it so that it sustains that moment, whether
someone's in the air or someone's skirt is in motion, …
but it's just literally one-250th of a second … that will now live on forever.
My name is Mathew Karras, and I'm a
photographer/videographer. (male voice off camera) How’s that?
[Karras] This is the third time I've been able to collaborate with the Kennedy Center. Photographing
dance, there's both a precision and a freedom to it. Dancers have the ability
[sound of shutter clicks] to respond very precisely, and repeat
that same action over and over again, and yet there's a freedom within it …
where they're letting their spirit come or the emotion of what they're doing, so
it's not just a person as a physical form, but you have the emotional part of
it, too.
For dancers, they wanna know, are they in the exact correct position, or is
their extension as far as it can be, or their hand turned in the right way so
that it expresses what they're trying to express. I have dancers jump or do other
things that are gonna be strenuous; we're fighting to make sure that their
face stays nice and relaxed, and they look as though it's effortless, which is
one of the joys of when you go to see dance in person or in live performance,
is that you see these dancers doing these incredible things, floating, and
it's so graceful.
With the Ailey dancers, they all have
this great energy, and their faces are just alive.
They are so connected to the
music and to Mr. Ailey’s choreography that they're able to bring to life that
essence of what the piece is, and then we're capturing that, putting them on a
small ledge in front of water and saying, “Here we go;
this would be the perfect place for you to share that.”
[Karas, in background video] Move to the next mark, for a second?
[female speaker, off camera] Huh?
[Karas] Can you move up one mark?
[female speaker] All three of us?
[Karas]Yeah.
[male speaker, off camera] That’s pretty awesome.
[music]
If we can tell a story, and the audience feels something, … then we’ve
really, I think, done a great
collaboration. (conversation and laughter)
[music]
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