For dancers, actors and executives, a good headshot can make a huge difference.  It is also an investment of time and money, so to prepare for the perfect headshot, make sure that you hire the right photographer and do some homework.

Courtney Lavine, American Ballet Theater headshot by Rachel Neville

This way you will make the most of your head shot photo shoot and you will get exactly the look and feel you need for the dance headshots that make the difference for you.

3 Tips for Taking the Perfect Dance Headshot

Nadege Hottier, Artistic Director Premiere Division headshot Rachel Neville

1.  Think of the adjectives, or descriptors, that describe your unique personality and style. 

We can get a beautiful shot, but if it doesn’t communicate who you are and what you are bringing, that no one else is, that headshot is not doing its job.

James A. Pierce III, Lion King headshot by Rachel Neville

2. Remember timing and schedule your photo shoot accordingly

I always remind dancers to to schedule their headshot photo shoot in advance to have enough time for retouching and quality printing before you need to bring them to auditions.

Jackie Bologna, New York City Ballet headshot by Rachel Neville

3. Talk to your dance photographer about angles, color and lighting

When planning for your headshot with your dance photographer, remember to talk about all the elements that make the headshot powerful.  Talk with your dance headshot photographer about camera angles, background color and lighting.

Davon Doane, Dance Theater of Harlem headshot by Rachel Neville

Every choice you and your photographer make can deliver subtle messages about who you are.  We often shoot dancer headshots right at eye level or slightly above to help project confidence as well as willingness to take direction, both of which dance directors and choreographers are looking for at dance auditions.

I had a really fun dance and fitness photo shoot this past weekend with Elizabeth Thuvanuti of Dance Cardio Plus. Elizabeth is a former dancer who is combining hip hop and dance for a cardio workout with toning exercises in a club-like environment.. sounds like fun right! She’ll be on Class Pass starting next week and will have a new website up the following week (we’ll share all the links on social media!).

Elizabeth Thuvanuti, Cardio Dance Plus Photo by Rachel Neville.  Find Dance Cardio Plus on Instagram

One of the things she mentioned when we were finished shooting is that she had googled how/what to prepare for a fitness photoshoot and very little information came up. The only info that she really found was geared toward bodybuilders who diet down and do the drastic ‘don’t eat or drink for 12-14 hours prior to a shoot and then just minutes before the fitness photoshoot, drink some sugar to make your veins and muscles cut more’.

Yes, by the way, I’ve seen and shot that, it does, indeed, work. However, if you are reading this and/or are a client of mine, I seriously don’t want you to do that. Unless you are a body builder. Or super muscle bound and that’s your thing.

So here is my 2 cents as a fitness photographer on how to prepare for a fitness photoshoot.  Note that it’s slightly different if you are a yoga or pilates instructor fitness trainer, fitness teacher, or a dancer.  Each of the tips below gives the insight you need to get the fitness photos you want, within your area of expertise.

1) Sleep well the night before.

No matter what. If that means you have to go to bed at 8pm because you have to be on a plane the morning of the shoot, do it. You really need 100% of your energy for photoshoots, in all areas: physically, emotionally and spiritually/mentally.  Coming into the photoshoot with less than 100% is not helpful. We all know the benefits of a good night’s sleep, I won’t flog a dead horse here, but just do this.

2) Watch what you eat the day of the photo shoot and the day prior.

You want to makes sure to fuel your body for serious output (especially when you shoot with me!), but at the same time we don’t want hard to digest food sitting in your gut while during your photo shoot.

If you have a tendency to bloat, don’t eat those trigger foods for 1 or 2 days before you come into the photo studio. Do not go carb-less..  You need complex carbohydrates for energy and I want you to bring all of your energy to the photo shoot.  Just be smart about the carbs you eat and balance them out with easy-to-digest foods.

3) Prepare everything that you need to bring in advance, at least the day before.

Not much saps a person’s energy and puts them in a bad mood more than the anxiety of being late or having forgotten a key item.

We want to make sure that you have everything that you need in your suitcase or bag so you’re not scrambling at the last minute.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had clients come having forgotten a hairbrush or lipstick (yes, happens so often even with my photoshoot checklist that  we have a stock of all those things at my studio).

Preparing in advance for your photoshoot will save you anxiety and stress on the morning of the shoot, allowing your mood and energy level to be optimum for the pictures.

4) Do the things that put you in a good head space the day of the photo shoot

This could mean taking a walk along the water or going to your favorite yoga class… whatever works for you. If you are a dancer, I suggest taking only a barre class, not a full class because we want all of your energy at the shoot.

5) Put your best face forward, especially if you are taking head shots.

Use a mask or exfoliating facial scrub with essential oils the night prior to your photo shoot.

6) Schedule any kind of beauty treatments in advance.

If you are having your eyebrows or any facial hair worked on before your photoshoot, make sure to do it a few days before you come into the studio so any redness has time to calm down.

There are all different styles of photography out there. Are you choosing the right ones for your purposes?

In this second post in our series on marketing for professional and forward thinking pre-professionals dancers

You see it all around you: The sub par images that get a lot of attention. The photos of dancers that make you scratch your head and wonder why everyone likes them or why they get printed.  As a former dancer and ballet teacher, and now photographer, images like these drive me nuts. One of my biggest pet peeves is photo’s that are technically lacking, not due to the skill level of the dancer but more for the lack of attention to detail.

But if you take a closer look, and think about who the images are reaching and who your dance photos are intended for, you may have your answer.  And you may learn a little bit about dance marketing basics in the process.

The proliferation of whacked out legs, feet and hyper mobile backs that you see all over Instagram definitely has an audience, as is evidenced by many accounts with huge followers.  Many of these post dancers in one of only 4 or 5 poses. (Yes, you know what I’m talking about, the attitude, arabesque, the crotchy, over stretched a la seconde, the Grand pas de chat and the rolling over your feet dangerously fourth position en pointe).

These dance images generally attract the younger audience and non-dance community. Even if we dance photography professionals get tired of looking at flexibility for the sake of flexibility, there is a market for it. This doesn’t mean that using these types of images will further your career or always offer artistic satisfaction, but they may serve a purpose if used occasionally.

Four styles of dance photography serve professionals best, and each has a particular following and purpose with a particular audience.

4 Types of Dance Photography Ideal for Dancers and Dance Companies

1) Performance/Rehearsal Shots

2) Behind the Scenes (BTS as its called in the film industry)

3) Location Images

4) Commercial Images

Before you put your images out there, think about your reach and your goals.  What do you have to say?  What’s important to you as a person, an artist, a dancer?

Next, consider who your followers are and who you would like them to be.

It’s a great idea to be more strategic with you images, to have them target your audience in an impactful way that will grab and hold their attention. Choosing dance photography images that come from your heart rather than your flexibility is a great start!

Happy to have a conversation with you to discuss this important topic and how it applies to you.

I’m thrilled to announce the dates for this summer’s Dance Auditioning Marketing and Image Workshop. The Workshops will be held on Sunday, July 19th and Sunday, August 2nd, at my studio in Long Island City.

The half day workshop will include marketing tips for dancers, insight from my interview with Misty Copeland’s publicist; the How-To’s of image making including the elements of a good audition photo; and audition tips that will get you ready to explore who you are as a dancer, what you have to offer dance companies, and how to present yourself at the auditions and with the companies you have been training to be get in front of.

“Working with Rachel has given me a wealth of information and knowledge. Information that has proven very useful in every photoshoot there after.  She has thought me the importance of translating a 3D body to a great line for a 2D image, in photos. ‘It’s all about angles..’ I would recommend every aspiring dancer and professional, alike, take notes.” – Anthony Savoy, Dance Theater of Harlem

“My students texted me after, they have found it very innovative and inspiring (me too!)” – Nadege Hottier, Principal, Premiere Division

As a dance photographer, I consider it my mission mission to do everything I can to forward our dance art form. Helping our next generation of dancers to understand that good marketing for dancers is vital not only to getting a foot in the door and signing your first contract, but to keeping your career growing and thriving for years to come.

Maeve MaGuire

I want all of the dancers who work with me to understand that there is a reason why corporations spend 15-50% of their revenue on marketing.  We dancers and artists are just not schooled in this area the way MBAs are.  In hosting workshops like this and giving dancers access to marketing insight, image making expertise and time tested audition strategies, I am doing my part to shift this conversation and to empower this generation’s dancers.

Last year, I presented this workshop several times to dance schools here in NYC and received excellent feedback from all involved. Since then, my conversations and work with companies and dancers has enhanced the content and the workshop experience even more.

“Rachel gave me more than fantastic images. She gave me a new approach to and perspective on my dancing and instilled in me a new sense of confidence. It was an experience I will never forget.”  – Alayna Brenchley

Join me Sunday, July 19 or Sunday, August 2, at the Rachel Neville Photography Studio 25-19 Borden Ave Suite 216
Long Island City, NY, 11101 (just 10 minutes from Grand Central Station)!

Register Now or Request More Info

Email info@rachelneville.com

Guest post by Elizabeth Eames

If you have been following Rachel’s smart marketing advice for dancers, dance companies and fitness professionals, you know how important it is to identify and maintain a commitment to your brand.  Engaging in consistent, clear and effective marketing enables you to keep that brand commitment and to see results.  For dancers, dance companies and fitness professionals, social media is one of most effective places to focus your marketing efforts.

The question becomes, what to do once you have jumped on social media.  The wait-and-see approach that many social media users take is not the most effective.  What is effective is building a consistent presence that takes advantage of all that social media tools have to offer without taking up too much of your time or pulling your focus from what you do best.  Understood correctly, social media marketing should support your career goals.  Your activity on social media should be geared toward helping you to build relationships and create and act upon the opportunities you need to succeed.

To build a consistent presence on social media that helps you promote your brand and achieve your goals, plan your posts strategically and diversify the kinds of posts and the types of content you share.

Share Images

As Rachel explains so well on this blog, creating and sharing images that communicate who you are and the unique value you bring is critical to articulating and sharing your brand in a way that is clear, relevant and actionable.

Make sharing your professional images on social media a priority.  Do so consistently and across social media channels.  Use your images to help tell your story, promote your brand and engage with the people that matter most to you.

Share Your Experience, Insight and Ideas

As you have seen on this blog, your images are a great way to telegraph your personality to artistic directors, choreographers, funders and prospective clients.  Your unique voice is another way to demonstrate who you are and what kind of value you bring to those with whom you work.

Create and link to your own unique content, including blog posts, observations, and conversations that you want to start.  Use social media to connect your audience to your work across platforms, both online and off.  If you are a dancer, talk about your performances and your classes and share ticket and event information to help engage your audience directly with you and your work.  If you are a trainer or fitness professional, talk about the classes you teach, your training plans and successes you have shared with your clients.

Let your work and the brand you build around your work be the central point of conversation, always bringing your audience back to you as someone who provides real value – someone with whom they want to work.

Share Content that Matters to You

Sharing third party content, images, articles and blogs created by someone other than you, shows your social media audience that you are plugged in to your field and that you are engaged with new performances, emerging styles, new technologies and relevant art, fitness and wellness news.

Using your social media platforms to share third party content lets your audience know that engaging with you provides value for them.  It also allows you to share content created by your audience, colleagues and prospective partners.  All of this enables you to participate in the collaborative and mutually supportive opportunities that social media creates.

Sharing third party content, posting and sharing your own unique content and sharing your images all help you to leverage social media to build your brand, create and maintain productive relationships and communicate in ways that demonstrate your unique value by engaging your audience and motivating your audience to act.

Elizabeth Eames is the owner of Contemporary Communications Consulting (eeames.com) a communications and marketing firm in Brooklyn, NY.  She writes about small business strategy, communications and social media for Businessing Magazine.

Summers here, let’s rejoice!

As July and August shoot dates start to book up I’m thinking more and more about new strategies for helping my auditioning dancers to stand out this next season. I want nothing more than for you all to be successful, and success takes planning. We all know that a dancer doesn’t become one overnight. We work and work and work until we start achieving, then we work some more.

If you are auditioning next year, this should be your game plan.

When we are working in my studio, so many of my clients really see that when you give beyond what you think you can, go for broke.  Push for 300% of your energy and see results that are outstanding. When we have worked a movement 20, 30, 40 times to get it just right and then we push for more, the wow factor arrives and I so often hear  ‘I didn’t know I could look like that!’

Now imagine what audition success would look like if you put that same time, energy and preparation into it?

Olympic athletes all use sports psychologists to be effective, to keep going when they didn’t think they could, to re-wire for pushing past their perceived limits. And often the difference for them between silver and gold is all in the head, in getting ready the right way.

Can dancers use some of these techniques to be successful ourselves? You bet!

We are going to hit it hard in my summer auditioning and marketing workshops, on all fronts, leaving no stone un-turned. We’re going to talk about making a plan, doing your research, creating resumes, videos, pictures, contacting companies, audition how tos, tricks to keep going when it gets tough, building a support network, marketing, marketing after contract, how to become an added value to your company, how to be better in front of the camera and so much more.

If you can’t make it to one of the sessions, July 19th and August 2, here’s a few quick tips to get you started;

1: Start early and make an action plan.

This should include research, a calendar of actions to take every week with a timeline that has you fully prepared for the beginning of January.

2: Build a support network.

Find a person(s) who understand the audition and marketing process, ask for support and for them to hold you to account on your plan. Choose someone you respect and who is ready and willing to cheer you on, be in your corner. Not a yes person, someone who will tell you like it is but also be kind. Your teachers do not always have the time to be this person for you, and friends often tend to be absorbed in their own lives.. Check in with this person once a week.

3: Be objective with yourself.

Take stock of where you are in your training, where you are weak, and start filling in the holes. Treat yourself (for our purposes here) as a product or service that dance companies will need/want. How can you make position yourself so well rounded as to be attractive? Does that mean upping your ‘added value’? Does that mean you need to get to more contemporary classes or acting classes? Does that mean you need to dye your hair rainbow colors? What ever it is, take stock and do it now, not two weeks before auditions start.

If you want in on July 19, or August 2, drop me a line. If you can’t be in NYC on those dates but still want in, let me know, we are looking into having a live stream or video available for dancers across the country.

Happy preparation and cheers to your success!!!

Let’s dedicate some time this summer to build and check off your marketing to do list so you can start the next season ready for success.

Allison Lang

First up, we are talking about landing and completing successful dance auditions.

If you just landed your job, and you’re ready to think about continued marketing for your career, make sure to check back in here next week. I’ll be talking to you guys next.  In the meantime, share this advice with your fellow dancers who haven’t signed contracts yet.

3 Must Dos for Dance Auditions

You’ve made it – or almost made – it through the year.  A few well deserved weeks off are coming to you now before your summer intensive begins. So let’s take a few hours of that time, maybe an hour a day or two hours every other day, to get yourself headed down the right path.  Your next year or two need to be full of focus, eye on the goal, pedal to the medal.

Start now, not in December, and you have time to be fully prepared to take on the audition season with confidence and ease.

Angeli Mamon

1) Research dance companies and audition opportunities

A little at a time  will give you a head start on having the information you need to know in 6 months. This takes time and effort but it’s well worth it. For notes on where to start check out this post.

2) Evaluate where you are in your training

Be objective. You are putting yourself out there into the marketplace, so you need to take the personal out of it and look at what the strengths and weaknesses of your ‘product’ are. Fill in the gaps. Now.

Some of dancers may not be able to rely on their dance schools for all of the necessary training for audition prep. If you don’t get enough contemporary classes, add them yourself. If you don’t get enough ballet/acting/improv/singing… whatever it is, add it. Now.

Ainsley Sorenson

Do not wait until you hit dance audition season to realize you can’t pick up contemporary choreography.  Do not wait to find out 6 months from now that you don’t know how to ‘turn it on’ in a class situation (you know if this is you, you shine on stage but not in the studio).

If you are not sure, ask someone you trust, make an appointment to speak to your teacher, call me. If you are auditioning next year you have now 6 months to get ready.  Use this time well!

3) Start researching and putting together your audition package (means photos, video and resume)

This also takes some time, and I love working with my dancers on this over the summer. Your strategy is to look at all the aspects of yourself that you need to get across in your images and on video and to choose your options accordingly.  If you are an adagio dancer, for instance, select those variations to start working on.

Work with your photographer to come up with styles that highlight your personality and your technique.  Start thinking about what you want your images to say in the two seconds that you have a director’s attention.  Stack the deck, making sure that your investment in the last 10 years is going to pay off by working towards a marketing package that gets your foot in the door.

Allison Lang

Once the year starts you have Sept to get back at it, October starts Nutcracker rehearsals and it just keeps getting more crazy from there. It’s optimal to have as much of this done in the summer months as you can.

Bonus Must Do!

If you’re in the NYC area in July, come check out my one day marketing workshop for dancers.

Stay tuned, more to come…

Gianna Nicoline

1. Continue your research and deepen it.

Look at youtube videos of  dance companies and think about why you would like to work for those companies (beyond just wanting to land a dance job).

Write down your reasons on a chart or spread sheet. This makes great content for a quick email to each of the companies when you need to ask for information and when you are sending them your materials.

2. Get in the right mindset.

When you are researching, look for all the positives of the company: look for its vision to see if you can see what the company’s goals are. Don’t spend time knocking the companies down (you know what I’m talking about, I did it too, 20 years ago, the ‘omg look at her sickled foot’ or ‘ the corps is not together’ comments).

Spend your energy in a positive way, looking for the good. Everyone has bad days and not every performance or piece out there is the most spectacular. Move your mindset toward being a supportive team player. We are all out to move our industry forward. It is much more empowering and easier to do collectively.

Gianna Nicoline

3. Use the above information to start thinking about what pieces of choreography or variations you should prepare for your videos and to make style notes for your photographs.

What type of work is going to suit your technique and personality.  What do you have to offer that your target companies will appreciated? You do not want to send in hip-hop-based contemporary pieces to a classical company, nor do you want to send in an Aurora or Esmerelda variation to a Complexions type company. Yes, these are extreme examples but you get the idea..

Gianna Nicoline

4. Think about what you, as a dancer, have to offer dance companies.

What are your strengths? Why would a dance company want to hire you over the next dancer?

If you don’t know, this is a topic we will cover extensively in our simmer workshops for dancers getting ready to launch their careers.  Sign up now.

Varvara Kalinin is the owner of Perfect Posture Pilates, a pilates studio in Astoria Queens, near our photography studio in Long Island City, NYC.

Varvara’s studio is “a contemporary Pilates studio offering private and group Pilates instruction for both body conditioning and rehabilitative needs.”

With this brand identity in mind, Varvara came to Rachel Neville Photography to create images that connected with her brand, pushed her marketing to the next level, and integrated with her new website.

We spoke with Varvara about the importance of creating powerful fitness marketing images for her business, what her goals are for her new website, and why it is important to understand who you are so you can serve your clients best.

How important is it for your clients to see a professional website with quality images?

Your website and marketing materials are the first impression of your business and your name .

Having professional pictures and images is as important for a business as having a professional website

What did you learn about the power of images after working with fitness photographer Rachel Neville?

Images make your website stand out.  People look at images much more than text.

Through images you create your story, your approach, your name.

What has the response been to your new website from current clients, from new clients, and from others?

I have been getting a great response from old and new clients about my new website.  They also agree that the website looks very much like my new studio, which was exactly what I wanted.  [Like the studio, the website is] bright, airy, open, clean, fresh, with spring tones and a holistic feel.

Based on the experience of creating new images and building a new website, what is your number one piece of advice for fitness professionals who are worried about taking the next steps in marketing their businesses and themselves?

If you are starting a business or looking to build a website invest in getting professional images done.

For more about Varvara and Perfect Posture Pilates, located on the 3rd floor of 23-08 30th Ave., Astoria, NY 11102, check out the new website: perfectposturepilates.com or call 310-413-2293.

I was thrilled to be interviewed by Erin Carlisle Norton, Artistic Director of The Moving Architects on the Movers & Shapers dance podcast.

On the episode, available now, I talk about why marketing is so important for dancers, how to grab the right attention from the right eyes in the limited amount of time you have to make an impression, and what it has been like to build a dance and movement photography business in NYC.

Listen now!

Big thanks to Movers and Shapers for inviting me to join in on the podcast. I hope you all enjoy listening to the episode as much as I enjoyed taking part in it.

Podcast also available on iTunes and Stitcher.
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New Workshop Announced for San Francisco

Big thanks go out to everyone who participated in the Marketing Workshop for Dancers.  It was a day filled with great energy, important information and smart questions from dancers launching their careers.

We have received great feedback from workshop attendees and are pleased to share some of it here, including a glowing review from dancer Laura Anne Wallace, who traveled all the way from LA to attend our NYC Workshop on July 19.

“Thank you for the wonderful workshop on Sunday. I was blown away by all the new and insightful information and I left inspired to put a plan of action together right away!” – Laura Anne Wallace

“Thanks so much for the great workshop today! I really enjoyed it and learned a lot!” –  Jennifer Kohli

Questions About Upcoming Workshops

Inquire about available spaces for upcoming workshops.

Join Us in San Francisco!

It’s been a busy summer, audition photo shoot season is in full swing at our Long Island City photography studio. I wanted to take a minute to share with you guys a fantastic tip that we are talking about regularly.  This one thing could make all the difference this year for you,  whether it’s for audition preparation or for your upcoming season.

Identify Strengths and Weaknesses

Before you hit your stride in September, take the time to make a list of all your strengths and weaknesses. Put it all down on paper, no holding back, even the tiniest thing.

Brandon Pereira

It’s easy to list weaknesses but don’t forget your strengths.  Take confidence in your strengths as a dancer and then look objectively at your weaknesses so that you can put a plan in place to address them.

Design an Action Plan

Pull out a calendar and make an action plan.  Outline small but concrete steps to get you where you want to be.  For example,  Is it your core strength that needs help?  Be specific in your actions and goals.  Just adding  ‘do my pilates exercises every day’, may not get you there.  Make an appointment with a pilates instructor, buy a package at a studio like Pilates on 5th or Pilates Reforming NY.. Make a plan to be conscious of those muscles for 1 exercise each class.  Then put on the calendar when you will do these things by and what your reward will be when you do.  Something great, something that you really want.  Next, get someone you trust to hold you accountable with consequences. For example, if you don’t get to all the contemporary classes you promised yourself you don’t get to go to that ABT performance you have tickets for. And have your accountability partner hold onto your tickets!!!

 Courtney Lavine

Make a plan and put an incentive in place that you really, really want at the end of each short goal (movie night, call to your best friend, seeing a show, new shoes..). Make sure that you check in with your accountability partner each week.  Repeat and repeat, taking small steps to success.

Imagine if you have 10 areas that you need to improve on and you make just 10% improvement over all those areas.. forward momentum and movement is key to continuing success!

Rachel

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about the things we work through in shoots or consultations, giving you tips, highlighting the successes of my clients, and all around, doing everything I can to help my ‘tribe’ move their worlds forward.

I don’t often talk about the downside to all of this. We all have them right? The sacrifices you make in your personal worlds to do what you do. The choices you make. The roads you are not going down.

This morning on my way out the door I was headed to the subway and turned around to sit down on the stoop of my building to cry for a moment. Yes, that was me, blubbering for about 10 mins until a neighbor walked up, a parent of one of my daughter’s friends, who put her arms around me and gave me the support I needed to pull it together and move into my day. I am so grateful.

I won’t bore you with the details of the cause of my moment (it has to do with the harshness of living and working in NYC, having small kids who are currently sick and my lack of sleep). But I knew I needed a moment to release the pressure and I decided to take it. And then out of nowhere I got the support I needed and now I can continue on through my day.

If success means doing what’s hard even when you don’t want to, against the odds, how can any of us achieve what we are striving to achieve without the support of a neighbor who will stop to give us a hand up? 

We all need healthy ways to release the pressure so we can get up and go and move forward. I am starting to realize that the bigger the goals the more internal and external pressure we face. Perhaps we need to talk more about creating and being aware of release valves in order to have more dancers, and humans in general, become happy, successful people.

My food for thought today – make it a great one – and if you can, help make someone else’s better.

The audition photo bookings are coming in and we are moving into high gear for the height of dance audition photo shoot season. Let’s get right to the point, then!

I get so many questions about dance auditions and marketing for dance companies and for dancers at all phases of their careers.  You know me, I’m highly committed to dancers and to dance companies putting their best feet forward and “upping their game.”

Alana Morgenstern

So, what questions do I hear most from all dancers…

What do I wear?

What leotard will look good on me at my dance audition?

The One Thing You Must Have for Your Dance Audition Photo Shoot

If there is one thing you must have for an audition photo shoot, it is a leotard that looks great on you.

The right leotard for your dance audition photo shoot balances your body, is a color that complements and intimates your personality, and gives you the confidence that you look really good.

Aryssa Alonzo

If you are a ballet dancer you also need to come with really good pointe shoes, too.

For more on what leotard to wear to a dance audition photo shoot, check out my Leotard Buying Guide and drop me a line to receive the new Leotard Guide coming soon and featuring all of the new Yumiko leotard styles for audition season.

I absolutely LOVED working with the Eryc Taylor Dance company and I know you are going to love their show just as much. ETD’s upcoming show, The Exhibit, runs Oct 15-18th at The Alchemical Theatre Laboratory, 104 W. 14th Street in NYC and tickets are still on sale, but they are going fast!

Dance Mission Resonates in Dance Photography

Based in NYC, Eryc Taylor Dance has a mission to “advance appreciation of dance and educate the public about dance by creating and presenting original performances, conducting master classes and workshops, and making grants to aspiring choreographers.”

Through their innovative choreography, the aim of the dance company is to “find, explore and execute new points of view and combine varied styles of dance on and off pointe.”  The company pushes for honesty in its choreography and performance.  Honesty, boundary pushing and creativity were all elements of our shoot to prepare images for Eryc Taylor Dance Company and for photo and promotional materials for the upcoming performances of The Exhibit.

The company’s  mission is clearly present in The Exhibit, and also in the experience we had for the dance company photo shoot here at the Rachel Neville Photography Studio in Long Island City, NYC.

Communication and Openness in the Dance Photography Studio

I really enjoyed the process of working with Eryc leading up to the shoot, on the day of the dancer photo shoot and in post production, creating dance company promotional pieces including the poster for The Exhibit.  We had several meetings to make sure that nothing was left to chance, and Eryc’s communication allowed me to have images come to life in my head so that we were able to create them very specifically on the day of the shoot.

His dancers were fun and adventurous in shooting, and we were really able to get them to ‘go there,’ by creating expectations but also by creating a supportive and safe space for the dancers to really ‘perform’ in the shoot.  And as a result, we got excellent results.

See Eryc Taylor Dance Company in The Exhibit

I can’t wait to see these guys in the performance space.  It is sure to be a really interesting show, and one not to be missed.

Grab your tickets now.

I work with so many auditioning and established dancers, but no matter the level of experience, I have found that dancers come to me with smart questions that help us get the best possible images for them but that also help them understand who they are as dancers and how that translates in auditions, on the stage and into career preparation and advancement.

Courtney Lavine, Dance Audition Photo Rachel Neville NYC

Don’t wait until you come into my Long Island City dance photography studio to ask your question.   I am offering blog readers the opportunity to ask me your most pressing questions about dance auditions, dance photos, how to prepare for a photoshoot.

Gianna Caridi, Dance Audition Photo Rachel Neville NYC

Find out what to ask your local photographers to help choose the right dance photographer, how to set yourself apart at auditions and much more.

So go ahead and jump down to the comments and ask me ANYTHING!

Gianna Nicoline, Dance Audition Photo Rachel Neville NYC

Over the next few weeks I will do my best to answer all of your questions directly and here on the blog.  We are a community, dancers, and we are made stronger by working together, learning together and sharing what we know.