It can't be easy trying to capture the essence of movement in a single frame but that's exactly what one young photographer has been doing. His name is James Houston and he has been working with three of Australia's top dance companies to achieve the effect. The results are a show called Raw Move and they're on the walls at Beijing's Jintai Art Museum.
The black-and-white photos have a sculptural feel and seize on a moment in time. They put a new twist on the human body and make something unfamiliar.
These bewitching identities are the work of photographer James Houston. He's used his lens to close in on performers from Australia's top three dance groups, the Sydney Dance Group, the Bangarra Dance Theatre and the Australian Ballet. His sharp and sensitive eye has caught the moments and gestures of choreographed movement.
The photographs are backed up at the exhibition by video clips of the dance companies in action. Prominent Chinese dance critics have given the show good reviews.
Houston's pictures may be in a two-dimensional form but they suggest something that goes beyond the space and time of the image.
(CCTV December 2, 2003)
