She Graduated And Skipped the Corps de Ballet! You’ll Never Guess Who [Video Interview]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | May 14, 2014 | Ballet Dancers, Video Interviews

Anna Pavlova’s broke the mold of what it meant to be a ballerina in the early 1900’s. She Graduated And Skipped the Corp de Ballet! In this video I talk about Anna Pavlova’s amazing career and her dancing style. Listen to the entire video for some interesting stories about this endearing ballerina. For more of my videos go to my YouTube channel. She Graduated And Skipped the Corps de Ballet! Since there is no known recording of Anna Pavlova dancing the Mexican dance, I chose to share the video below of the “Jarabe Tapatío,” the dance Pavlova chose to dance in her 1919 tour to Mexico! Source: http://terrar.io/2013/05/pavlova/ Video courtesy of QuetzalVerde. Thanks! She Graduated And Skipped the Corps de Ballet! How about that? Isn’t it amazing how a “frail” ballerina was able to take ballet to audiences all around the world? If I’ve peaked your interest, then click on this link for more on Anna Pavlova and her amazing...

Dance Motion Photographer Surpasses His Campaign Goal for His Latest Project! [Video]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Apr 3, 2014 | Ballet Photography, Video Interviews

I was very excited to have a second opportunity to chat with Jesus Chapa-Malacara. (You can see our first interview here). Photographer Jesus Chapa-Malacara Surpasses His Pledge Amount for Dance Prints! What Chapa-Malacara has accomplished with his lens bends the mind. Although he is modest, and I had to “twist”  his arm to get him to name the “bunch” (in his words) of publications that have featured his work, here’s a partial list. Mashable, Huffington Post, The Daily Mail, Republica (Italy), PetaPixel, Phoblographer. See for yourself.   Watch the short video below to discover what Jesus is up to and how you can help and benefit at the same time! Video source: YouTube channel (Romy Macias). Photographer Jesus Chapa-Malacara Surpasses His Pledge Amount for Dance Prints! To see more of Jesus’ beautiful motion photography, please visit his site: http://fotosjcm.com/ Don’t miss out on supporting his project and owning one of his breathtaking prints. http://fotosjcm.com/store See his campaign video below! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fotosjcm/dance-prints-humans-slicing-through-space *All images used with permission ©Jesus...

Dance Prints: Ghostly, Enchanting and Heavenly by Jesus Chapa-Malacara [Slide Show]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Jan 29, 2014 | Ballet Photography, Video Interviews

[rev_slider Jesus2]     “Poetry in Motion.” – London’s the Daily Mail Online Dance motion photographer Chapa-Malacara and former dancer knows what the “in-between-moves” of classical ballet’s greatest leaps and turns (sautés and pirouettes) feel like, the technical feat and  their temporality. It is these fleeting moves that he captures in his series called “Dance Prints: Humans Slicing Through Space.” This is the second slide show Classical Ballet News has featured for your pleasure (see first slide show here), but also to ask you to click through the images and consider lending your support to Jesus Chapa-Malacara’s Kickstarter campaing and enable him to expand his Dance Prints project. Clicking on any photo will take you to his Kickstarter campaign page, website, or Facebook page. *All  images used with permission of Jesus...

Photographer Jesus Chapa-Malacara’s Breakthrough Images [Slide Show]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Jan 27, 2014 | Ballet Photography, Editor's Choice, Video Interviews

[rev_slider Jesus] “Bewitching, ghostly, entrancing, and heavenly,” describe Jesus Chapa-Malacara’s photography.  – Huffington Post  “Here’s the thing about being a dancer.  Whereas most people think of dance primarily as the cool tricks and poses, dancers spend a lot more time thinking about the movement in between than the actual poses. So I kept thinking, how can I tell that story? “ “Each photo you see is every little piece of what it takes to start and finish a ‘word’ within the ballet language, all the little details dancers spend years perfecting. So over the long term, I hope to create a visual compendium of the ballet lexicon.” – Jesus Chapa-Malacara Chapa-Malacara is a Brooklyn and Boston-based multi-media artist, photographer/director and former pro ballet dancer. A student of art , he studied photography under David Hilliard and Todd Papageorge as an undergraduate at Yale, where he earned a BA in Political Science. “In art, my passion lies in storytelling and exploring ‘the how,’ be it physically, conceptually or politically. I strive for photography that is intentional and thoughtful, that explores technical aspects–light, composition, post-production–as much as it examines the particularities of its subjects. I love what I do and deeply believe in the power of art to inspire and communicate.” Currently, I’m working on the ground-breaking series Dance Prints, including the visual ballet compendium Esprit de Corps. You can check it out on the kickstarter campaign page.” – JCM In addition to pursuing commercial photography,  Jesus is working on a photographic novel, a multi-media satirical pop-art website, and a few series of self-portraits that explore physical perception. Jesus’ work has been featured in solo and...

Dance Prints – Humans Slicing Through Space by Jesus Chapa-Malacara [Video Interview]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Jan 24, 2014 | Ballet Photography, Video Interviews

He’s been featured on Mashable (with 1.9 k shares!), PBS Arts, DanceSpirit, PetaPixel (1.4 k Likes!), The Ballet Bag, The Phoblographer, The Photo Brigade, Mostrarte and Le Journal de Montreal, just to name a few. Dance Prints – Humans Slicing Through Space by Jesus Chapa-Malacara This week I had the pleasure of hanging out with Brookly and Boston-based photographer Jesús Chapa-Malacara. He shared his recent project “Dance Prints – Human Slicing Through Space” which takes the viewer on a visual journey of a dancer’s motion through space. Jesus explained that in order to finance his project and create these amazing images he’s begun a Kickstarter campaign rallying the support of all those who share his vision and love for photography and dance.  Having been a dancer himself, Jesus wanted to explore a new way of looking at dance. The results are short of mind-blowing! Dance Prints – Humans Slicing Through Space by Jesus Chapa-Malacara Here’s our conversation. The final minutes are quite insightful; I’m sure you’ll agree. Enjoy! Video can also be viewed on YouTube channel by Romy Macias. Here’s a sampling of Jesus’ breathtaking images! Jesus not only uses ballet dancers as subjects, but breakdancers and ballroom dancers as well. He hopes to expand to athletes in the near future. Dance Prints – Humans Slicing Through Space by Jesus Chapa-Malacara Here’s Jesus’ Kickstarter video. Video, courtesy of Kickstarter.com. If you find Jesus’ art inspiring please visit his Kickstarter page and consider making a pledge starting at $1. As of the date of this post, there are 21 days remaining for the “Dance Prints” campaign which ends on February 14, 2014 at 11...

Ballet Photographer Luis Pons Creates a Large Following With Beautiful Images [Video Interview]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Jan 19, 2014 | Ballet Photography, Video Interviews

Ballet Photographer Luis Pons Creates a Large Following With Beautiful Images This is the second time I’ve interviewed Luis Pons. (See first interview here). If the first interview went well, this time it went amazingly well! I found Luis more relaxed and happy to share his successes from the last four months. When we spoke back in September Luis did not have a Facebook fan page yet. I remember a few weeks later he requested friends to help spread his art by sharing and getting a “few” likes. What happened next was short of amazing. He went from a few hundred likes, then five hundred. Soon he was past one thousand and setting 5,000 likes as a goal. Before I knew it he was past 11,000! Since last fall, he’s also had a showing at the 1st Salon Show at Green Point Gallery in Brooklyn. I asked him how he got to show his work with other 99 artists and what was in store for the future for Luis Pons. Ballet Photographer Luis Pons Creates a Large Following With Beautiful Images Here’s what he had to say. Enjoy and make sure to watch ’till the end as Luis opens up more and we get to see what motivates him to capture the breathtaking photos. Video from Romy Macias’ YouTube channel. Ballet Photographer Luis Pons Creates a Large Following With Beautiful Images If you enjoyed this interview, please make sure to visit Luis’ Fan Page on Facebook: http://goo.gl/2XY2Th In the following slide show you can get a sense of Pons’ eye for composition, lighting and contrast: http://classicalballetnews.com/luis-pons-photography-exquisite-ballet-photos/ Here’s the link...