General & Miscellaneous Photography, Dance - General & Miscellaneous

Breaking bounds

Name: Breaking bounds
Author: William A. Ewing
ISBN: 9780811802109

by William A. Ewing

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Overview

In 1982 an event took place in the career of the New York photographer Lois Greenfield which was to lead to some of the most inventive representations of dance in the history of photography. Early that year, Greenfield met and decided to photograph two young dancers, David Parsons and Daniel Ezralow. She used for the initial session - and for the first time - a borrowed Hasselblad camera. Her excitement at the result was immediate. "I looked at the print," she says, "and knew I was on to something." What in fact this chance convergence of elements gave rise to was the archetypal Greenfield image: dynamic, witty, original and full of an energy so forceful that it seems contained only by the black lines of the camera frame. Breaking Bounds is a collection of 87 of these extraordinary images, taken between 1982 and 1991 and representing the best of Greenfield's mature personal work. That period saw her achieve her aim: to liberate the dancer from the dance. "I tell my dancers," she says, "to leave their choreography at the door," and here indeed we see dance as it has never been shown onstage. These are movements which arise through a collaboration between Greenfield and a host of dancers, unrestrained by the bounds of choreography, willing to take risks and to push to the absolute limits the boundaries of both photography and dance. This volume also represents a further collaboration between Greenfield and the eminent photographic historian and curator William A. Ewing, who has arranged these examples of her work into five sections that he calls Solo, Duo, Restraint/Release, Fission/Fusion and Breaking Bounds. He also provides an introduction and an interview with Lois Greenfield that charts her development from a young photojournalist to one of the finest photographers of the day. Lois Greenfield is recognized internationally as among the foremost photographers of dance. By choosing the world of experimental dance as her subject, she has created images of unbeli

In this collection of photographs, made between 1982 and 1991, Lois Greenfield's revolutionary work captures the explosive energy and beauty of dancers' bodies in motion, as they present a powerful and elegant depiction of the human body in midair. 87 duotone photographs. 7 halftones.

About the Author, William A. Ewing

William A. Ewing is a wellknown writer on the art of photography and an independent curator whose exhibitions have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography in New York, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.

Lois Greenfield is recognized internationally as one of the foremost photographers of dance. She is a regular contributor to the Village Voice, and her photographs have also appeared in Dance Ink, Esquire, Time, Wile, Vogue, Mirabella, and Zoom, among othe

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Editorials

Library Journal

Photography collides with dance in a stunning collection of 87 gravity-defying duotone images by Greenfield, a dance photographer for The Village Voice . Not content to be ``handmaiden to the dance,'' Greenfield choreographs for the camera and employs the collaborative and improvisational powers of gifted contemporary dancers, primarily David Parsons, Daniel Ezralow, and Ashley Roland. Emphasizing soaring jumps and athletic flight, these images illustrate the paradox of still photography capturing motion. Ewing, editor of the more eclectic Dance and Photography LJ 3/1/88, provides an introduction and a technically illuminating interview with Greenfield, who explains her artistic development and use of the Hasselbad camera. Recommended for both photography and dance collections.-- Sheila Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.