DANCERS AND BODY MODELS CALL!

DANCERS AND BODY MODELS CALL!

If interested, direct message me at tonypowell1@comcast.net instead of responding to this post or call me at 301.343.7805. I’m preparing for a gallery show – Body Language - of new images captured in darkness, experimenting with the effect of light on bodies in motion and at rest.

Looking for uninhibited, spontaneous dancers/models between the ages of 18-26 to collaborate with on this project. Up to 6 photos will be given to each dancer/model to add to your portfolio.

All photos taken in a safe, relaxed, and professional environment with a maximum time commitment of 3 hours. Forward this post to anyone you think fits the criteria and may be interested. Thanks, Tony

High Kicking at the Dance Awards II

Sona Kharatian and Jonathan Jordan © Tony Powell

Click here to see and purchase the photos!

Sona Kharatian and Jonathan Jordan © Tony Powell

One of my favorite times of the year is when the entire DC dance community comes together to recognize and support each other’s efforts at the Metro DC Dance Awards. This year’s ceremony, held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts’ Terrace Theater, was one of the most entertaining yet. We were all treated to a rare visit by “Martha Graham,” actually the NY-based female impersonator Richard Move, who, as the evening’s emcee, was able to channel Graham in a way that was both realistic and endearing.

Therrell Smith and Virginia Johnson © Tony Powell

Richard Move as Martha Graham © Tony Powell

Joy of Motion’s Youth Dance Ensemble © Tony Powell

Peter DiMuro © Tony Powell

Move’s devotion to Graham is apparent and his life’s work of imitation and total immersion has become an art form in and of itself. There were dance performances galore – scattered throughout the evening – beginning on the Millennium Stage at 6pm where the youth awards were given out, to the main event in the Terrace: Furia Flamenca, Joy of Motion Youth Dance Ensemble, ARKA Ballet, and Maryland Youth Ballet, were just a handful of the city’s brightest lights, from the local dance scene, to perform.

DC Cowboys © Tony Powell

Maryland Youth Ballet © Tony Powell

Juliana Calderon and Co. © Tony Powell

Septime Webre and Liz Lerman © Tony Powell

There was something for everyone – ballet, modern dance, flamenco, and even the dancing DC Cowboys!! I was overjoyed to see so many of my friends in one place and many of them winning awards: Septime Webre and the Washington Ballet for last season’s beautifully conceived, Celtic-inspired evening of ballet in the Eisenhower – Highland Fling (I went twice), Gesel Mason receiving the Pola Nirenska Award, my new friends Delphina Parenti and Jason Ignacio both receiving the award for Outstanding Individual Performance, Helen Hayes winning for Outstanding Achievement in Dance Education, and Brooke Kidd receiving the Kriegsman Award!

Alan Kriegsman, Andrea Snyder, Naima Prevots, Sali Ann Kriegsman

The climax of the evening’s honors was the  acceptance speech given by the internationally-renowned, Washington-trained prima ballerina and magazine editor Virginia Johnson, for her lifetime achievement in dance.  In accepting the Pola Nirenska Award, she stressed the importance of talking about dance to people who are not involved in the field, about engaging those that may otherwise not have access to the arts. A high point for me was having an opportunity to photograph Virginia with her first ballet teacher, 91 year-old Therrell Smith, who attended last night’s ceremony.

Helanius Wilkins, Helen Hayes, Gesel Mason © Tony Powell

After the tightly produced show we all went over to the Watergate’s 600 Restaurant to mingle the night away! Over 700 photos will soon be available for purchase and download.

Click here to see and purchase photos!

Juilliard, Hapmudo, and The Dinner Party

Sophomore year at Juilliard - I'm bottom right between Stacy Aswad and Maggie Pihl Pelton photo from the collection of Scott Warren Sharff

I was reminded of my college years last night when I managed to make it to 3 events in a row. As a student at Juilliard, in New York City, going to multiple performances was an almost nightly occurrence. I remember darting out from the Joyce Theater, having just seen Nikolais/Louis to make it up to NY State Theater in time to catch the last half of a City Ballet performance. Or hearing a percussion ensemble work by Steve Reich at Manhattan School of Music and trying to then make the curtain of Alvin Ailey at City Center. The only difference is we didn’t have cars then…it was the 1, 2, 3, A, C, B, D, 4, 5, or 6.

Amy Rydell

It wasn’t until Amy Rydell, my best friend at the time and daughter of  ”On Golden Pond” director, Mark Rydell, came along in my senior year, that I learned to take cabs and the bus. Very civilized modes of transportation indeed.

Anne Meara

Barbara Barrie

We used to see Ben Stiller’s comedienne mama Anne Meara on the bus as well as actress Barbara Barrie. I miss those days when there seemed to be more time for public transportation, but it would have taken over an hour and a half last night and 3 different buses to get to The Palisades area of DC from where I live in Maryland, to Key Elementary School, at the invitation of Kevin Roots, to learn more about Hapmudo, a system of self-defense based on fundamental offensive and defensive techniques taught there by Grand Master Yong Sung Lee. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Grandmaster Lee came with his family to the United States in the 1970’s. After many years of teaching in Korea and the United States, Grandmaster Lee opened his own Studio on September 15, 1983. I didn’t know what to expect, but as I walked in I recognized a familiar face, Global Village publisher Matt Davis, and a few minutes later, another, Lily Mazahery. I’d studied some forms of kung-fu growing up but this was something wholly different in it’s approach.

Hapmudo is based on the theory of circular defense as opposed to direct defense. Direct defense may cause injury and may be unsuccessful against greater power whereas Hapmudo’s circular defense requires little power but much knowledge and skill. These delicate techniques will overcome brute force almost always.

The meaning of the word Hapmudo is “the way to combine mind and body power for World Peace”

Hapmudo is a complete Martial Art where you receive a full and well-rounded Martial Arts education. You will learn the Mental and Spiritual benefits of the Martial Arts as well as training in the Physical aspects. It is also includes training in 72 weapons starting with the nunchaku, staff, sword, fan, cane, rope, knife, etc.

For more information about Hapmudo instruction visit the studio’s website here.

HAP To combine, harmony mind and body • MU All Martial Arts • DO The way of, method of study

Grand Master Yong Sung Lee throwing two opponents © Tony Powell

Grand Master Yong Sung Lee teaching Matt Davis and Kevin Roots how to use "empty hands against empty hands" © Tony Powell

The drive from the Palisades over to the DC Arts Center in Adam’s Morgan wasn’t bad at all. I couldn’t help but think of the destruction caused by the fire that gutted the home of Peggy Cooper Cafritz as I passed Chain Bridge Road where Loughboro Rd. turns into Nebraska Ave. I drove by there the other day and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

I’d never been to the DCAC but I promised dancer and long-time friend Sylvana Sandoz that I would come watch her solo – one of five – that was being presented there as part of Field Work for Mixed Disciplines: Works in Progress. The literal definition of a black box theater, the DCAC is one of the most intimate venues for live performance I’ve ever seen. The Field/DC  and the Dinner Party, the monthly performance series of experimental dance, music, and performance art, is organized by Ilana Silverstein, who also contributed a solo.

5 Soloists © Tony Powell

All of the photos from this performance can be seen at: www.tonypowell.smugmug.com

Since I’m photographing the work of the brilliant modern dancer and choreographer Molissa Fenley at the Judson Church in New York City very soon, I seized the opportunity that this performance provided to get in some practice shooting in extremely low light. Some of my favorite people in the DC dance community were there: dance critics Carmel Morgan and George Jackson (one of my first champions), choreographer Nancy Havlik (I’m on her board), dancer/choreographers Boris Willis and Laura Schandelmeier, and arts blogger Ellen Chenoweth.

Delphina Parenti © Tony Powell

In the Flesh, Darlington House, and Smith Point

© Tony Powell

Last night’s triple header started out with a visit to the Phillips Collection, probably the best chamber-sized museum in the country. I’d heard so much talk about the new artwork on view there now, that when I was invited by my friend Kelly Mayfield to see her new choreography being performed there, it seemed like a no-brainer. It was also an opportunity to try out my brand new Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM prime lens in very low light. As part of the Capital Fringe Festival, her fledgling company, Contradiction Dance, comprised of six diverse dancers, staged an hour-long dance piece inspired by the “Paint Made Flesh” exhibit currently running on the top floor of the museum. As I was photographing the performance, I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder. It was my friend and local dance impresario Meera Wolfe, who had just come down from the exhibit. From her whispered description, I knew I needed to see the paintings that inspired the dance that we were watching.

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

Smith Point July 23, 2009

Nude by John Currin

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

Q & A © Tony Powell

Like the excellent but smallish exhibit upstairs, her work explores a wide range of themes associated with flesh – physical attractiveness, disfigurement, aging, and sensuality, among others. Comprised of duets, solos, spoken words, and group interactions, “In the Flesh,” challenges us to examine our own conception of beauty and to ultimately question the origin of those beliefs. Mayfield and company continued this exchange of ideas in the post-performance Q & A with the audience.

Nude by John Currin

It’s such a small World! Meera was taking in the evening with the internet-based dance critic Carmel Morgan and yoga instructor Amy Dara Stoltz. Carmel says she knows of me via one of my Juilliard classmates Elizabeth McPherson, an esteemed author and dance educator. The four of us take in the artwork together. The 40 paintings that comprise the show are wildly different from one another, yet they all contain the common thread of humanness. The savagery of war, the beauty of the human form, the fleeting nature of love, the inevitability of death, all play out through pigments on canvas, paper, and board. Hyphen, by Jenny Saville has to be seen in person to feel the full effect of the work’s wall-sized brilliance. Hyphen begs one to find beauty in the seemingly grotesque depiction of the artist and her sister. I wanted to touch the canvas – the paint being so thickly applied in some areas. The strongest works for me, by far, were the pieces by Francis Bacon, Eric Fischl, Willem deKooning, and Lucian Freud. California artist Richard Diebenkorn was represented by a minor work of figuration which served to solidify my belief that his “Ocean Park” series is one of the most important collections of abstract paintings of the 20th century. I went to Juilliard with Diebenkorn’s granddaughter Phyllis and she had a miniature painted by him, for her, on the wall of her apartment at the Hotel Narragansett @ 93rd and Broadway. None of our friends realized just how valuable a piece of art it was at the time. But I knew.

All of the photos from the Contradiction Dance after party can be seen at: www.tonypowell.smugmug.com

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

© Tony Powell

After viewing the art we met up with the dancers at Darlington House for a cast party/cocktail party before I needed to leave to go over to Smith Point, for Washington Life Magazine, to cover Ashley Taylor’s fundraiser. The bad weather didn’t dampen the spirits of those who braved the rain to show there support for Once Upon a Prom, a non-profit dedicated to providing prom dresses and scholarships to under served young women in the Nation’s Capitol. Ashley’s new boyfriend Jared Cohen was there, as well as Coventry Burke, Heather Guay, Lindsay Craig, Hadley Gamble, Tate Yost Lett, Gabrielle Malman, Becca Glover, Marybeth Coleman, Sara Lang, and Anna VanMeter. Just before leaving, my friend, the writer Carol Joynt, popped in from the rain with two of her pals and unwound in a back room. I’m very comfortable behind the camera so I got a little nervous when Ashley asked me to be IN a shot with everyone. We all had a great time inside while it poured down heavily outside.

“Once Upon a Prom” photos can be found on the Washington Life Magazine website: www.washingtonlife.smugmug.com

Smith Point July 23, 2009

Dancers Unite @ Hotel Helix

End of Year Dance Party hosted by Dance/MetroDC – View all the photos at: www.tonypowell.smugmug.com

Area Washington, DC dancers, dance teachers, administrators, and choreographers kicked off the summer season with a cocktail party last night at the trendy Hotel Helix on Rhode Island Avenue. It was an opportunity to catch up with some of my long-time dance friends, as well as to make some new ones. Hosted by Dance/Metro DC, which provides resources, promotion, and collaborative opportunities for the dance community in the Metropolitan DC area, the mood in the courtyard of the Helix Lounge was upbeat and festive. Since my own ballet company disbanded in 2002, I’ve been fortunate to work on various companies around the country. This choreographer-for-hire status took me away from the local dance scene, except for my photography and design for Washington Ballet, DanceSmith, 3 Dancers, and a few pieces of mine performed by visiting companies. Nonetheless, I felt right at home! 

Some of the most talented dance minds in DC were there: choreographer/dancers Gesel Mason, Helanius Wilkins, Susan Shields, Vincent Thomas, and Boris Willis, Dance/Metro DC Director Peter DiMuro, Ballet Instructors Harriet Williams, Nancie Woods and Caroline Frankil Warren, Master tap teacher Yvonne Edwards, dance promoter Meera Wolfe, educator-turned-critic Naima Prevots, Joy of Motion Director Doug Yeuell, arts advocate Cara Pomponio, and Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center Executive Director, Susie Farr.

 

 

 

 

High-Kicking at the DC Dance Awards!

It’s that time of year again. AWARDS TIME!! DC finally has the dance equivalent of the theatre community’s Helen Hayes Awards – The Metro DC Dance Awards. It seemed as though everyone in the DC dance world was there and I couldn’t have been happier. The reception and silent auction that followed the Awards Ceremony was held at the Watergate’s 600 New Hampshire Avenue.

I decided to take my point and shoot camera along – I needed a break from carrying around my usual 10 pounds of gear – to see how the shots would turn out. I don’t think I’ll try that again. Not too bad for the first time using it in a party situation, but I still don’t know what I’m doing with a point and shoot. Give me a Hasselblad, Canon or Nikon SLR any day.

I got to see some of old friends and to make some new ones: Jonathan Jordan, Sona Kharatian, Carla Perlo, Helanius Wilkins, Katerina Kopsidas, Helen Hayes, Judy Hansen, Harriet Williams, Meera Wolfe, George Jackson, Jean Battey Lewis, Nejla Yatkin, Gesel Mason, Cheles Rhynes, Karen J Reedy, Doug Yeuell, Lesole Maine, Vincent Thomas, Vin Grabill, Lynn Joslin, Dan Burkholder, Ziva Cohen, Laura Diserio, Enoch Chan, and many others!

From the Juilliard Vault

Over the Pavement by Eliot Feld. Music by Charles Ives. The Juilliard Theater circa 1988

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLAST FROM THE PAST! I finally have some proof that I danced way back when. That’s me in the center hogging the stage. Thanks to Paul Dennis, stage left of me, for dusting off his collection of photos from back in the day. I found this photo on Facebook. Probably the most difficult piece I ever danced. Nonstop counting. Great experience working with Feld. He never screamed at me. I felt sorry for some of the others. 

Eliot Feld’s “Over the Pavement.” Music by Charles Ives

“Summer Sizzler” Premiere – My newest ballet @ the Ailey School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahh! Summer in Washington, DC. Everyone heads off to the Hamptons, the Cape, the Vineyard, or other destinations fantastic. With very few parties to photograph for the magazine over the summer, I very happily accepted an invitation from Alvin Ailey School Director Denise Jefferson to create a new ballet.

Two, 3-hour, days a week throughout the month of July produced my newest work, “Deconstruction,” for sixteen dancers, set to the music of Steve Reich. Sooooo proud of their hard work and dedication! Special thanks to Jennifer for your help in the studio as well as your dancing onstage. The piece premiered July 31st and exceeded my expectations.

Thanks Denise for the opportunity!

Highlight of the rehearsal process: Judith Jamison coming into the rehearsal, unannounced one day, and actually watching me work for a few minutes. Whenever she’s around I end up saying and doing some of the dumbest things. I have so much respect for her that I can barely think of what to say when I bump into her. It’s funny because I am around some of the most famous people on the planet on a regular basis. Can’t figure that one out.

I pray to make a ballet for the main Ailey company someday. Truly some of the greatest dancers alive!

UP NEXT – a new ballet for PHILADANCO that will premiere in the Spring of 08′. I have a really good feeling about this one. 4 World Premieres by Camille Brown, Hope Boykin, Zane Booker, and me, Tony Powell. I’m still pinching myself.