CONTEMPORARY DANCE & THEATER
I couldn’t get any closer. I was right there, almost close enough to touch them. I could hear their breathing, feel the heat of their bodies, smell the sweat in the air. No distance, no stage between us, nothing to hide behind. Just the bodies moving, the breath, the noise, the sudden silence.
And that’s what made the photographs alive. You don’t just look at them, you feel as if you’ve stepped onto the stage yourself, standing among the dancers, caught in the movement, right there in the middle of it all.
In 2009, I was invited to become the resident photographer of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg (KVS) in Brussels. This brought me into contact with some of the finest names in theatre and contemporary dance.
I worked with a wide range of renowned directors and, above all, choreographers, including Wim Vandekeybus, Lisbeth Gruwez, Koen Augustijnen, Daniel Linehan, Isabelle Soupart, Bahar Temiz, Moya Michael, Arco Renz, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and theatre-maker Jan Decorte/Sigrid Vinks.
It has always been a privilege for me to move among actors and dancers, to be right there in the midst of their world. Through my collaboration with Wim Vandekeybus, I developed my own distinctive style of dance and theatre photography.
At a time when photographers would traditionally remain in front of the stage, I chose to step onto it. I wanted to photograph the action from within, moving among the performers and dancers as they moved, collided and breathed life into the space.
I could feel their presence. I could hear their breath and smell their sweat. I could not have come any closer to the subject.
That intimacy became the essence of my photography. It made the images feel alive, as if the viewer were no longer sitting in the audience, but had stepped onto the stage themselves, standing among the performers, right in the heart of the action.