Puppies en pointe
Combining the powerful poses of a ballet dancer with the unpredictability of a canine companion has resulted in a fantastic project, as Amy Davies nds
They say working with animals is a recipe for disaster. Throw in attempting to capture how a canine interacts with the otherwise perfect timing of a dancer and you’ve got a very tricky task indeed. Dancers and Dogs, by the photographic duo Kelly Pratt and Ian Kreidich, has done just that though, to outstanding success. What started as a random idea in 2017 has grown exponentially, and now has a very large and loyal social media following, a calendar, a book and even merchandising products. Kelly was kind enough to take some time out of her very busy schedule to tell me more about the story behind this intriguing, playful and heart-warming project.
Kelly and Ian were already dance photographers when Kelly got the idea for Dancers and Dogs. Thinking it would be fun to produce some images which combined the wide variety of dog breeds with the variety of shapes that her dancer friends were capable of creating, the duo tried out the concept with dancers from the St Louis Ballet, in their home city. After a behind-the-scenes video was released in 2018, the project went viral around the world and really started to take off.
Some of the dogs you see in the shots belong to the dancers themselves, while others come from the community. Kelly and Ian are strict about which dogs get selected for the shoot, because they are keen to ensure that welfare standards are maintained to the highest degree. Kelly explains, ‘The dogs have to meet certain requirements, such as perfect indoor manners, and they must be comfortable with strangers and new situations. They also have to be able to, at the very least, sit and
stay for at least five seconds. The dancers meanwhile have to be comfortable with dogs, and willing to try something new and abnormal for them.’
The duo’s passion for animal welfare has even seen them partner up with charity organisations. Kelly explains, ‘From the beginning, we wanted to find a way to feature adoptable animals. It is difficult, given the nature of the project, because there are lots of things which could be too much for an animal. We never want to scare animals, so we’re always looking for the most confident dogs for the project. In 2018 we decided to partner with Stray Rescue of St Louis and St Louis Ballet for “Muttcracker”, where the dancers dress in their Nutcracker costumers and they pose with the dogs (and cats) from the shelter. This was a much simpler shoot than we otherwise do – there are no crazy dance moves, and it took place at the shelter to cut down on potential stress for the animals. We are huge advocates for animal rescue – all our own pets are rescues, and we wanted to spread the word about animals that have had a hard life and just need a good home.’
Each image in Dancers and Dogs is a result of a shoot which lasts roughly an hour. ‘We usually have at least five different poses or ideas picked out ahead of time for each dancer and dog duo, based on what both the dancer and the dog are good at. Some ideas work, and some don’t – that’s just the nature of working with animals,’ Kelly says. ‘After we’ve worked through those ideas, we then play
around and experiment. Some of the best images have come out of candid moments or unexpected interactions.’
Since that first shoot in St Louis, Dancers and Dogs has travelled across the US to various cities, setting up shoot days to capture dozens of dancers and dozens of different dog breeds. On the occasions that the team travels, they will usually set up a four or five dancer and dog pairs in one day, making it quite a challenge to coordinate up to ten different schedules. Typically, the studio is set up with a wall of four Profoto lights, with octaboxes and diffused umbrellas. Since the dancers are often creating large movements, the light needs to cover a similarly large amount of space. The pair use Nikon DSLRs, typically with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.
‘One of the main reasons we use Profoto lights (both Profoto D2s and B1s) is because of their Freeze Mode, giving us the ability to freeze action,’ explains Kelly. ‘Capturing movement, particularly dance, is very much about timing and learning the exact moment you need to release the shutter to capture the
correct instant to show the dancer in the proper technique.’
As you might expect, there are several other challenges when it comes to working with unpredictable creatures. The dogs can be a little tricky too. ‘The dancers have a very difficult job,’ notes Kelly. ‘They need to connect their timing to something that has no idea what good timing is. Everything in this project therefore pretty much revolves around the dogs, and what they are willing and able to do.’
It’s this spontaneity that often leads to the best and most exciting results, however. ‘Something memorable tends to happen on every shoot! The stars of our book cover, Kimberly (dancer) and Mikey (dog) – Mikey is actually deaf, so Kimberley communicates with him via hand signs. That’s fun to watch. The most popular images tend to be the ones where the dancer and dog are clearly making a real connection with each other.’ Kelly also says the behind-the-scenes videos that they post online tend to do just as well as the finalised images, as people love to know how an image is created.
While many photographers may work with a team that includes make-up artists, directors, set designers and so on, it’s fairly unusual to find more than one person in charge of firing the shutter. Rarer still to find husband and wife teams who are happy to spend their working life together, as well as their personal one. How it works depends on the project, as Kelly comments. ‘Sometimes one of us is more of the photographer of a shoot, and sometimes we both take turns shooting. It can actually be beneficial to have two photographers, since there are times when certain subjects are more comfortable with say a male vs a female, or perhaps one of our personalities gels more with the subject. Plus sometimes (though not all times!) two heads can be better than one when it comes to problem solving or catching things in the shots that need to be tweaked.’
Kelly reveals that the ultimate goal for the Dancers and Dogs project is simply to make people smile. Indeed, once the project started to gain traction around 2018, and the pair started receiving daily emails from different publications wanting to feature their work, she says the most rewarding part wasn’t the attention, but rather that it gave people a smile, often right at the moment when they needed one.
A project like this was obviously never going to escape the impact of Covid. It was pretty much impossible to carry on with it last year, since it is all about travelling and working indoors in studios. Kelly is pleased to report, however, that now the vaccinations have started and people are more used to safety procedures, the shoots have once again started up. There are also plans to incorporate other types of dance into the project, and perhaps the biggest challenge yet – Dancers and Cats. ‘People have been asking us for Dancers and Cats almost since we went viral,’ confirms Kelly. ‘It is completely different from working with dogs, since many cats are not happy with new situations and people – but we’re trying it out. We have some trained cats to work with this year who are used to working on sets so we’ll see how it goes.’
You can keep up to date with how that progresses and see more images from the series at dancersanddogs. com, or at Instagram.com/ dancersanddogs.