Carole Edrich Weblog

young potential

A last opportunity to dance tango before I travel to Colombia for work, this was never going to be a big night for photos. But I took the camera because I really enjoy the challenge of constantly moving dancers in low and inconsistent light and can always do with the practice.

I get on well with and really like a number of people who I’ve danced with over a number of years but have never known their names. While we’re dancing all I feel is necessary is to compliment their musicality, follow as well as I can and have fun in the process. People have so many interesting things to say between dancing too, so all too often the exchanging of names often feels unnecessarily burdensome to the conversation and when it isn’t I may not think of it, hear it or (sadly) remember.

Harry and Wei
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008

Through the photos I take this is slowly changing. TangoWorld publishes names alongside portraits in “Milongueando in the UK”, besides which it’s more courteous and fun to ask subjects if they’d like me to send them the shot for their own use while in the process getting formal permission for the images’ publication. As a result I’m gradually learning the names of those with whom I’ve danced, photographed and interacted with as well as names of those I’ve never met before.

As always the Crypt was friendly and, once the darkness and uneven lighting is mastered very photogenic too. It’s fun to frame people between columns and arches, catch faces half bathed in coloured light or play with the lighting from slide projector, ceilings and walls. Tonight a particularly photogenic dancing duo caught my attention so after catching them on camera I shared with them what I had done. It’s the first time in tango that getting permission was more than a courtesy. The lead was Harry, a well-groomed young man, less than ten years of age.

Wei, with whom he had been dancing, liked the shots and suggested that Harry and I dance a tanda which was great! Harry moved with style and elegance throughout all three of our dances and was one of the clearest leaders of that night. It seems logical that anyone possessed of a diminutive stature must find leading more difficult. Harry was therefore particularly remarkable since he has not yet reached an adult’s height. It turns out that he only started learning around Christmas last year, so his standard’s impressive, but at the time I was happy and impressed that he was able to avoid the collisions or juddering stops that I’ve experienced with more mature and experienced leads.

At a later conversation, after asking Harry his opinion his mother gave permission to write this piece and offer his image for publication in TangoWorld. I hope that we dance together again, that Leandro selects his photo for publication and that in the years to come he continues to tang and gains the skills, pleasure and satisfaction that a young man of his potential so justly deserves.

succumbing to the siren lure of serious dance couture

I had left for DSI three hours early, expecting to arrive in plenty of time, get some work done and scout out the location before anyone else arrived. Instead the traffic was so bad that I scraped in five minutes late.

divine dress on display dummy
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008

As it was a photo-only assignment for Dance Today my preparation had been centred around camera and memory chips. I had given so little thought to the fact that I might like what I saw or that the dresses were there to be purchased that I hadn’t thought to bring money or credit cards.

Carole, testing the swirl
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008

That was probably just as well. Slinky and seductive, flirtatiously feathered, rushed and ruffled, sequined and stunning, there were so many glorious, glamorous, gorgeous gowns that the impact felt as I imagine cartoon characters feel when a piano is dropped on their head.

another gorgeous gown
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008

The assignment was to take photos of Carole who was spending a day at Dance-Sport International and of Erin Boag who she didn’t know would be visiting at the same time. Carole was surprised that the event would make an article. “I would have thought that it was obvious. Surely everyone would want to spend a day here”. If they’re into ballroom or Strictly Come Dancing that’s probably true, but it took John (Carole’s dance partner) to think of it and Katie the Editor to agree.

divine DSI display
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008

I hope that Carole enjoyed her day as much as I did mine. She’s a lovely lady who shares her passion for ballroom dance by teaching it to kids at school. I found Erin to be genuine, gentle, charming and grounded and got a real insight into the business of dance couture.

Then, at the end, when I was sure I had enough good quality photos to satisfy the commission I succumbed and tried on a couple of dresses myself.

.... what can I say...
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008

silent tango

One of the really exciting aspects of this year’s Big Dance celebrations is a silent tango event that will involve hundreds of people dancing tango on seven bridges and seven stations throughout London on July 7th. Almost a tango flashmob, while the dancers will hear the same music through converted earphones, the rush-hour onlookers will not.

Monica and Omar were to open the launch by dancing on London Bridge at 6.00pm after which an hour-long milonga would be held for anyone interested. I knew the words would come easily but getting good images posed more of a challenge and that's why I took the difficult decision to cover this evening's launch without participating would normally be the case. I was still regretting the impracticality of doing both while checking camera and equipment during the late afternoon.

The Ocampos dancing on London Bridge with Tower Bridge in the background
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008

Even though dance photography’s my speciality this shoot was one of the most difficult I’ve done. It wasn’t because the TV people kept changing their minds as to the best place to film or that photographers from the big London papers got in the way. The latter were charming and accommodating and the apparent indecision of the former will make a much better story. I had scouted the angles before it all started and the concentration and adrenaline involved in getting the right shot was sufficiently consuming that my ill health was temporarily set aside. The challenge was to keep each composition framed whilst being jogged or walked into by rush-hour commuters, and to time each shot to coincide with completed dance moves whilst passers by walked between the camera and the dancers or behind the dancers but obscuring the landmarks entirely.

I like the way the Ocampos appear in the gap between commuters, but not the way Tower Bridge is obscured
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008

I got some reasonable shots and learned a lot, the best of which I’m saving for later. Monica gave AgentSimon her tangocommute connectors and he asked if I’d dance. What could I do but say yes…. But that’s another story - one which I’m hoping to sell.