Lorenzo Monreal, 1973
The Boston Ballet Company
(d. ~1993)

Lorenzo was a choreographer, so he was used to designing movement as opposed to simply following directions. I asked him to use his arms and his expression to portray something like a crucifixion or a pieta, while I snapped away. My intent was to build on such a theme, already begun, featuring the upper bodies of dancers.

I'm not a religious person, but the universality of suffering and pathos seems to be reflected here, as if a body were being lifted down from a cross. I give Lorenzo much of the credit for this image.

This was taken in my very small home studio, only about 10 feet square. It was difficult to or impossibleto capture full-length dance images. Much of ballet seems to be about legs and feet. In my little studio I started focusing on the dancer's upper torso, using facial expression and the fluidity of arms and hands to convey a sense of dance and movement.