Those who know me well, know that growing up I spent most of my time either in the dance studio or on the stage. Dance is a great part of who I am, though I don’t call myself a dancer anymore. I think much of the imagery I create with my camera is influenced by the years I spent focusing on dance as a craft, as a life.

Dancers, as individuals, are some of the most dedicated to their craft; they torture their bodies to find some type of perfection; Yet, we only see the beauty, the story that they are trying to portray on the stage. There’s something about that dedication that is just amazing. I always get great inspiration from dance performances, maybe you will too.

The Sundance Channel has scheduled three documentaries on influential dance companies of the 20th Century airing on Monday, April 14th.

BALLETS RUSSES
Monday, April 14th @ 6:00 PM EST

No ballet companies had greater influence on the evolution of 20th century dance than the Ballets Russes. What began in turn-of-the-century Paris under Serge Diaghilev, and later transformed American taste during the ’30s and ’40s, ended when rising costs, competition and battling egos forced it to cease operation. With revealing interviews, rare archival footage, wit and intelligence, documentary filmmakers Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine present the colorful, intimate story of one of the most important artistic earthquakes of the modern era.

BEST OF BJART
Monday, April 14th @ 8:00 PM EST

Many dance connoisseurs consider choreographer Maurice Béjart’s creations the most exciting dance theater of recent memory. Béjart is celebrated in this collection of pieces performed by Le Béjart Ballet Lausanne two years before his death in 2007. Béjart brought new audiences to ballet with showmanship and energy, as he tried to make dance as popular as cinema. Included in this selection are excerpts from his erotically charged version of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and settings of songs by Queen, U2 and Jacques Brel. Gilles Amado directs

HEIGHT OF SKY
Monday, April 14th @ 9:40 PM EST

Prior to moving from Japan to America, acclaimed Butoh dancer Oguri had never seen a desert. When he encountered the unforgiving vastness of the California deserts, Oguri was inspired to undertake a four-year personal and artistic journey, during which he created more than fifty original site-specific dances within and around Joshua Tree National Park. Dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Morleigh Steinberg observes and documents Oguri as he explores the literal and psychic borderlands between the body and the landscape.

About the author

Kevin Michael Reed
Kevin Michael Reed (Google+, Facebook) is a fashion & beauty photographer and producer/director based in New York City and Los Angeles, CA. He is the President/CEO of RedFOG Visual Media, a production company in New York City, and a partner in Passion of Photography, Inc, a company dedicated to teaching photographers and sharing our passion through charitable causes. Kevin has lectured and hosted workshops throughout the United States and the world teaching photographers the business and creative sides of photography. (Kevin's Fashion & Beauty Photography Portfolio can be seen here).