Dance auditions are the pinnacle to a student’s training and so it is essential to get audition, or CV, photographs that show yourself off to the best of your ability. After all I have been there and I know that the first job is the hardest to get as you are up against some really tough competition and most of the auditionee’s will have already been working with companies themselves.

Knowing the subject of dance as a photographer is a blessing as it can, to some, feel like a second language. ‘What’s an arabesque?’, ‘what’s a jete?’ ‘is that how it is supposed to look?’ are not things that you want to hear while you are trying desperately to focus on yourself to get the best possible results to take forward to your auditions, and ultimately get the job you so desire. As an ex professional ballet dancer with Northern Ballet I can relate to how you are feeling and know what it takes to get the best photographs to showcase your many talents. I can also help to guide the correct line or way of moving to achieve a far greater dance position that is not only aesthetically pleasing but has impact and makes the viewer of the photograph (artistic/rehearsal director) pause on the photographs to take it in. That is all it takes, just a few seconds to decide.

A lot of schools do have photographers that come in and spend 20 minutes with each student, if you are lucky, and some do know the dance world and the audition process. What is different about the way that I work is that you don’t only get 20 minutes, not even 1 hour but you get a 3 hour photo shoot with me to incorporate all of the photographs you need to take forward into your auditions. These can be solely ballet based, or contemporary based, or you can do a combination of all genres if you are unsure of exactly what you need. You then have a private gallery to view and choose your favourite 5 photographs (this is how many I include within the price) or purchase more if you require. The photo shoot is yours to use as you need and for us to work together to get you the best possible photographs to take forwards to your auditions.

The photographs in this post are from a recent audition photo shoot that I had with a lovely girl called Megan and she is just going into her graduating year at Northern Ballet School. She knew she needed a really strong dance portfolio but wasn’t exactly sure if she wanted to focus on ballet companies or cruise liners so I recommended that we incorporated both. She did exceptionally well and I am so pleased with what she achieved. It may not be directly because of these photographs but very shortly afterwards she was offered a contract at a company a year early, an amazing feat.

I hope you enjoy the small collection of photographs below and if you would like to know more about my audition photo shoots please get in contact, it would be lovely to work with you.