by Christopher Duggan
Studio 5 at New York City Center is a dance event built around in-studio performances that really gives the audience an intimate look at the dances performed. Hosted and curated by Damian Woetzel, former dancer with New York City Ballet and current Director of the Vail International Dance Festival, the performances give his unique perspective on dance. His connections to the world’s most amazing talent makes the series a hidden gem in New York.
I photographed a performance in February by Fang-Yi Sheu, formerly of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and just as she was in Vail last summer, she was fantastic.
He photographs dancers in the studio and in performance, for promotional materials, portraits and press, and he often collaborates with his wife, Nel Shelby, and her Manhattan-based dance film and video editing company Nel Shelby Productions (nelshelby.com). Together, they have documented dance at performances from New York City to Vail International Dance Festival.
Christopher Duggan Photography also covers the finest wedding venues in the Metropolitan and Tri-State areas, in Massachusetts and the Berkshires, and frequently travels to destination weddings.
His photographs appear in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Knot, Destination I Do, Photo District News, Boston Globe, Financial Times, Dance Magazine, and Munaluchi Bridal, among other esteemed publications and popular dance and wedding blogs. One of his images of Bruce Springsteen was added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and his dance photography has been exhibited at The National Museum of Dance and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.
His Natural Light Studio (http://www.christopherduggan.com/portfolio/natural-light-studio-jacobs-pillow-photography/) at Jacob’s Pillow is his most ambitious photography project to date – check out his blog to see more portraits of dance artists in his pop-up photo studio on the Pillow grounds.