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Natural balance

Dancers, mountains connect in a pas de deux

Chris Schneider, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 11, 2007 at midnight

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Rocky Mountain News photographer Chris Schneider explains part of the process behind his dance portraits

I sketched out a few ideas for certain types of photos I wanted, then went to the mountains to scout locations.

The photograph of the dancer on Summit Lake near Mount Evans was particularly involved because I wanted to make it appear that the dancer was floating on the water.

I built a platform box for her to stand on, painted black so it wouldn't reflect light and be apparent in the photo. I placed sandbags under the box so the dancer would have a stable base. Then I added more weights and sandbags to ensure that the box would not float away.

Colorado Ballet was generous enough to allow me to have two of their dancers for a day. We went to the location and set up the platform and lights, then waited for the clouds to clear. Once they parted, the dancer was carried out to the platform for the shoot.

In performance

Colorado Ballet will offer a free performance, Dance at Dusk, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Civic Green Park in Highlands Ranch. The company's season begins with Le Corsaire on Oct. 5. More details: coloradoballet.org