Welcome to a new series on the New Dance Project (a working title).  In this space I will recount every dancer I’ve worked with and what they bring to this new essay of mine.  We begin with Chelsea.

I first met Chelsea teaching at a local ballet studio in Salt Lake City.  Upon seeing her in class, I had to ask her what she was doing in such a small studio.  Her technique was far beyond the majority of her classmates and given her age it made no sense to me.  Later that year she began dancing at the University of Utah where I had intermittent contact with her and it was decided that we needed to have a session together.  At the time, I was finishing work on the Studio 60 Project and the images were easy and fluid to create.  She was carefree and technically professional, she had no problems at all producing beautiful lines.

When I started this new dance project I knew immediately I wanted to lead off with Chelsea.  She had everything that I wanted to express through a camera and lens as both a dancer and a person.  The frames she produced were absolutely stunning.  She set the bar very high for the rest of the project, she created for all dancers to be involved with the project an expectation of excellence and my faith for choosing to work with her was vindicated.  Most of all she raised the bar of expectations for myself in what I would and could be producing.

That, and she produced the one photo I love beyond all photos.