Dance from the Archive.
Not long after the “The School’s” 50th
Anniversary get-together one of the participants, Deanna Watson contacted me to
see A/ whether the photos of her she saw displayed were mine and, B/ did I have
any more?
Answering “No” and “Yes,” I invited Deanna to view the files
I had but as the majority of the early work had never been “proofed” it could
only be viewed from the original negatives, which is difficult particularly for
anyone not used to reading B&W negatives.
Then a couple more contacts followed also enquiring about
their time at The School and at the launch of Maggie Scott’s biography, writer
Michelle Potter evinced sufficient interest in this archive, as did some other
notable alumnae present to warrant scanning all the work and making it
available for those interested in viewing it.
A Little History.
One night on a tram in Melbourne a dancer on his way home
after a performance at Her Majesty’s Theatre was juggling with a number of
thoughts. He was bored. He was not doing much during the day, the odd extra
class wasn’t sufficient stimulation and when was his father going to appreciate
that dancing and performing really was a job?
Musing on how he had taken to photography whilst on tour and
that he had even managed to sell some images for publication, it then struck
him. Why not a pictorial book on the dancers experience? Perhaps that could
explain visually the intensity of the process and the work and concentration
required?
But where was the actual subject? Musical Theatre drew its dance cohort from all over; it had to be
ballet because ballet was that single dedicated form that could be examined in
detail. But where was there sufficient ballet for such a project?
The next night before the performance he asked one of the best
of the female dancers knowing she had had School training, where it was located
and who was the director and the following day rang up and made an appointment
to visit.
Margaret Scott gave him permission to attend classes and
take photographs with the admonition, “No flash and stay in one spot!”
After two weeks he formally applied to attempt the book,
which was granted and so began an almost daily process of shooting rolls of
film, performing at night, going home to process the days shoot and print some
of the previous days work.
Going on tour meant taking all the work with him and trying
to sort it into a coherent form.
Eventually he left performing. The touring meant he knew
he’d not be able to concentrate on the project and he started work with a photography
firm.
There were a couple of applications over this time for
publication that met with, “Ballet books don’t sell.”
The project had extended to a number of years and it was
expensive and it slowed and then stopped.
Some eighteen years later in front of a class of Yr 12
photography students attempting to motivate the duller of them to think about
what subject matter they could choose he said, “Look, it doesn’t matter what
you shoot as long as you’re engaged. It will have meaning if you apply thought
to it. For instance, years ago I took photos of all these dancers in training,
some of whom are now world famous…it’s possibly one of the most complete
records of a ballet school ever done. It’s real meaning, is its time scale ….”
He left the classroom and in his office rang The School and
some days later after meeting with Gailene Stock received permission to return
and continue. He photographed till Gailene left and went to head Royal Ballet
School.
It is a record over time, of a time.
It is also, as Deanna pointed out, about those who didn’t
become “world famous,” too; those who made up the bulk of the classes and were
the dynamic of the classes and what the place was.
And, it’s been a privilege.
Thanks, Deanna for the opening title.
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Technical Stuff
As the work was originally intended for publication it went
through a number of sortings and revisions with the result that much of it
became mixed and lost its initial order. There are some proof sheets that now
show widely separate times and place of shooting and only later sheets remained
intact and were dated from the time of shooting. Where this is the case I have
titled that proof with its details.
If anyone viewing the archive knows of details/dates they
would like to add, please feel free to contact and it will be added, if
possible.
I have kept as much as possible to the original numbering on
the neg sheets but there will be gaps.
Some marks or stains will be evident on some sheets but I
can happily report that this is not on the negs, although some early material
is showing some physical deterioration that will require digital remediation if
a full scan is required.
There are 591 rolls of film in this archive.
Initially I intended to post the Proof-Sheets to this blog
but their size as a readable item online and the sheer number has made that
idea unviable, therefore I will not be able to post the proofs here. Instead, I will commit
all the proofs to disk and if anyone would like to look through them they can
order one at a nominal cost ($20.00 including postage)
Please Note: this archive is for private use only and is not
meant for any form of publication.
Scans of individual images can also be ordered and will be provided
on disk, finished and suitably post-processed in JPEG format at 300 DPI and
around 20 MB per image.
Image size for each will be approximately equivalent to
500mm X 350mm for 35mm and 500mmX 500mm for medium format.
Please note, the mixture of files has meant in some cases
there will be two of the same number in a proof sheet.
Working times for each image with scan and full post
process, averages 30 - 45 minutes.
Lawrence Winder
Email: lawrencewinder1@gmail.com if you wish to order the archive disk.
