What pose to take?
When you have a dance photoshoot it is important to be prepared when you come to our session. If you have no idea what poses you want to show it might be a good idea to do some research. Op Instagram you can find the hashtags #dancephotography #dancersofInstagram #dancerspose or #dancersofig are just a few of the many dance accounts on Instagram. Pinterest is also a great location to find danceposes, if you enter a more specific search word, like ballet, hiphop, pom or tap, you will probably find more style specific dance poses.
Head to Pinterest, Instagram, or your photographer’s portfolio for inspiration. It can be easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of poses on the internet. Try not to spend too much time researching. Instead, save the photos you really like, and pay attention to what you don’t like about the others.
THIS IS THE LINK TO MY PINTEREST BOARD WITH MULTIPLE DANCE POSES FOR VARIOUS STYLES.
For sessions where dancers only have one or two minutes to take their photo
( like for recital costume individual sessions):
To make sure every dancer gets an even chance to pose for their photo, they only have one or 2 shots to get the correct pose. This is not the session to try a new pose they saw on Instagram or difficult jump, because it probably won't look as good as they might see on Pinterest or Tiktok videos of a famous dance photographer, where it looks like it is one and done.
I noticed that some parents are disappointed when they see photos where their dancer's feet are not pointed correctly in a jump or their upper body looks off.
These dancers and photographers work for hours to get that one pose correctly and obviously don't show that in the video.
Make sure you know what you are doing!
For each pose, make sure you are safe, make sure you are warmed up and know what you are doing. Study the pose, look for the correct execution, ask for feedback from a professional. You want to make sure you represent yourself, your teachers and you dance studio or danceteam/company well.
Practice your poses in the mirror to make sure you like the way they look. Pay attention to your hand and foot placement while you pose – these are often the details that dancers don’t like in their pictures. And don’t forget to practice your faces as well!
Some poses look amazing, but need a lot of practice or flexibility. Not everyone can do these poses and that is okay. Know what YOUR strenght is and use that to create an amazing photo.
It is better to execute a pose you are really good at, than to photograph a pose that is not 100% correct.
Have fun!
Researching dance photography poses gives us both a blueprint to work from, and it makes you more comfortable in your pictures, which creates more natural photos! Most important, execute your pose with confidence and attitude, have fun and your photos will look amazing!!
Are you interested in a dance photography session or dance team branding photoshoot? Contact me through this link.
