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A Different Kind Of Dance Team: Nel Shelby & Christopher Duggan

July 6, 2012 by 4dancers

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Most of you know Christopher Duggan from his dance photography column here at 4dancers which runs the last day of the month here and is titled “Finis”. What many of you may not know is that Christopher is part of a team–his wife, Nel Shelby–is a dance videographer. Today we thought we’d share a bit more about what life is like for this talented couple in the dance world…

This is Nel’s tenth season at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. She spent the summer of 2001 as a videography intern and now serves as Festival Videographer, supervising two interns and an apprentice each season. Christopher has been Festival Photographer at the Pillow since 2006. He acts as mentor for an intern during each summer festival, and this year he will participate on the faculty in a 5-day dance photography workshop led by his esteemed colleague Rose Eichenbaum.

Deeply dedicated to the preservation and promotion of dance through documentation of live performances, Nel and Christopher often team up to provide artists with the complete package for their upcoming productions. They enjoy brainstorming with artists from the inception of a work, creating behind the scenes photographs of rehearsal and generating excitement through promos, to the final production, filming performances and providing photography for press and preservation. Based in New York City, they have worked with countless emerging, established, uptown and downtown choreographers, dance venues and presenting festivals.

Both Nel and Christopher had personal relationships with dance prior to filming and photographing the art form. Nel danced from age 2 through 22 and has a bachelor’s degree in dance. She is also a certified Pilates instructor. Movement is an incredibly important part of her routine, and because she feels kinesthetically connected to the performers she films, she finds that most of her choices are instinctual and gracefully-aligned with the choreography. Christopher has developed an aesthetic that seeks to capture the heart and integrity of each choreographer’s voice within an image. He was first attracted to dance when working on the wardrobe crew for performances in college and has felt a magnetic pull from dancers ever since. He played the doundoun in a West African group Magbana and made several trips to West Africa to study drumming and dance.

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival offers a bustling season for Christopher and Nel because of its vast variety of dance and large quantity of work – each season, their responsibilities include documenting aspects of festival culture in addition to its 20 mainstage dance performances, filming, photographing and overseeing documentation of more than 100 free performances and events, and educating students about the technical and philosophical aspects of photographing and filming dance. But its the festival’s sense of magic that keeps both artists clamoring for more each year. Situated on the beautiful Berkshires hills, nestled in majestic trees and rooted in the history of founder and modern dance visionary Ted Shawn, the Pillow is steeped in tradition but forward-thinking in its worldly and contemporary curation. It’s a place to grow, learn and find inspiration. And for Nel and Christopher, it’s home. They now own a cabin on the same road as the Pillow and cherish the thought that their daughter is growing up at the festival each summer.

4dancers talked with both of them a bit about their lives and their work with one another… [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Editorial, Finis Tagged With: christopher duggan, dance photography, dance videography, jacob's pillow, nel shelby, rose eichenbaum

Finis: Triangles & Light

August 31, 2011 by 4dancers

Photo by Christopher Duggan

by Christopher Duggan

This monthly contribution will highlight an image I’ve made or perhaps an image I love by another photographer. I’ll discuss how I made the image, what the purpose of it was, why I love it or maybe some mistakes I made trying to make it. I’m always open to questions, comments and ideas.

Let’s begin with an image I simply love. It’s Crystal Pite’s Kidd Pivot from the company’s performance of Dark Matters this summer at Jacob’s Pillow. I’m drawn to the dramatic light and the triangles. The shadow, the symmetry, the muscles in his legs. It’s a beautiful moment. He looks so still. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Finis Tagged With: crystal pite, dance photographer, dance photography, dark matters, jacob's pillow, kidd pivot, nel shelby, new york dance photographer

10 Questions With…Christopher Duggan

August 25, 2011 by 4dancers

Christopher Duggan, Photo by Julia Newman

Today on 10 Questions With… I would like to welcome another new contributor to the blog–Christopher Duggan. Christopher is a dance photographer (and more, as you will see below) and he will be sharing some of his work with us the last day of every month here on 4dancers. The series will be titled simply, “Finis”. Join us this month on the 31st for the first installment, and in the meantime, get to know Christopher a little better…

1.      Can you tell readers a bit about your background and how you got started in photography?

I got started in photography when I was 25 and working in a finance job.  My friend from college was a photography enthusiast, took me to buy my very first camera and got me signed up for Intro to Photography at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. I loved it. I was learning the basics, developing film and making black and white prints.  It was the first time I expressed myself as a visual artist.

2.      How did you wind up doing dance photography?

I came into photographing dancers through my wife, Nel Shelby.  She was a dancer, and since 2001, she’s been serving the dance community by way of creating dance film and documenting dance performance.  I think it was in 2004 when I accompanied Nel on a performance shoot and asked if the choreographer would mind if I could sit on the side and shoot  some pictures. Of course they said yes.  I shot a whole bunch of images and caught one moment that I absolutely loved. Then I was hooked.

I graduated from SUNY Geneso with a BA in Theater, and because I loved being on stage and the adrenaline rush of putting up a show, it only seemed natural to do photography in that space. I really admire dancers. I love their bodies. The art they produce is unlike any other.

3.      What are you currently doing in dance photography?

I am the Festival Photographer at Jacob’s Pillow and have been working in this capacity since 2006.  My wife, Nel, is the Videographer there and she has a lot of dance clients in New York City, too.  She and I work together often documenting performance, creating edited marketing videos, and working with choregraphers and dance companies to create what they need to market themselves with photography and films.

4.      Do you have a “philosophy” regarding your dance photography that you can share? [Read more…]

Filed Under: 10 Questions With..., Finis Tagged With: christopher duggan, dance photographer, dance photography, jacob's pillow, nel shelby

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