Skip to main content

Dancing with the Camera: Ezra Hurwitz on Capturing Dance on Film- Review day 9

Capturing dance on camera is a feat all on its own, and having a dance background is a very helpful thing. Ezra Hurwitz is a former dancer, who after he injured himself in dance, decided to pursue photography and filming. "I always knew I wasn't going to dance forever," says Ezra in an interview with Dance Magazine. When he was back in New York of rehab after his injury, Ezra says, "I was bored, so I started working with Ellen Barr in the New York City Ballet video department." That's what got him into filming dance.
Dance is an art form that engages the eyes and imagination of those who watch it. To catch it on film and capture the magic of it is extremely difficult. If you don't get the dance at the right angles, you are not going to be able to understand the story and connection of the piece and those are two of the  most important things of dance, the third being the emotion of the piece. If one cannot connect emotionally with the piece, then they will have a harder time understanding the story behind the dance.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

These 'Indesturctible' Animals Would Survive a Planet-Wide Apocalypse -review day 22

An Animal that can survive even up until the sun quits shinning? No... that can't be true. But it is. Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are tiny water-dwelling creatures that are famed for their resiliency. They can survive for up to 30 years without food or water and can endure extreme temperature changes. WHAT?! No, not okay. They can even survive astrophysical events, like supernovas and asteroid strikes. I'm sorry but no way is that even possible! If they can survive all that, does that mean they can survive someone stepping on them? Are they completely impossible to kill? I'm only asking because tiny, eight-legged things resemble spiders, and I hate spiders.

Music

Our culture today doesn't sing publicly or even a loud. We fear being off key and out of tune. Before people were so self conscious, people would sing as large groups all the time not really caring how bad it sounded. For example, Andy Crouch recalls when he was a kid at a base ball game, the crowd would sing the National Anthem, all together and not very well but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that the National Anthem was sung. Nowadays, you never here the crowd sing the National Anthem (well, unless there's technical difficulties with the recording or a singer is too nervous), you always hear a professional sing it now, someone who actually sounds good; and the crowd does what they'll be doing the entire event: watching, listening, and enjoying. I find this fairly odd and honestly, I wish we'd go back to the days where everyone sang out nations song. Singing, I think, brings people together. Pete Seeger knew that most people cannot sing on key to save ...

A Mid-Show Fire Alarm? How to Prep for Onstage Mishaps-Review Day 11

During the most emotional and meaningful part of a performance inspired by the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, the fire alarm sounds. With the perfect timing of the alarm, most of the audience remained seated, treating it like it was part of the performance, when in reality, the on stage smoke mixed with the humidity, setting off the fire alarm, creating a real need to evacuate until the fire department gave the all clear. What is a performer supposed to do when something like the above happens? Dr. Charlie Brown,  a retired performance psychologist who has worked with dancers from Charlotte Ballet, talks about the difference between successful and not as successful performers in tricky situations like this, "The most successful performers aren't more perfect; they know how to visualize performance success and mentally prep for when things go wrong," says Dr. Charlie Brown in a interview with Dance Magazine. Dr. Brown suggests that to be a successful performer, you ...