Famous dance photographers show how a still image can suggest movement, tell a story, or turn a dancer’s pose into an unexpected shape. This dance photography collection profiles 30 artists and projects, with approaches ranging from studio portraits to ballet in city streets.
As you browse, compare the light, the background, and the shape of each pose. Notice whether the surroundings help tell the dancer’s story or simply draw your eye away from them. Those choices can give you ideas for your own photographs of people in motion.
The numbering is a way to browse the collection, not a ranking of the photographers’ ability. Each artist or project offers a different approach to photographing dancers.
30. Dance Photographers: Eva Nys
https://www.instagram.com/p/Btj7DsABV4a/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=13gxcc6arxcet
Eva Nys is known for dance photography and shares her work alongside videos about photography and ballet.
Her portraits range from atmospheric outdoor shots to intimate indoor images. Compare the mood in each setting and how much space she leaves around the dancer.
29. Brooke Trisolini
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpjw0YZBhUr/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1d9sps2pk9gic
Brooke Trisolini is a Boston-based artist who specialises in ballet photography. Her photographs combine demanding dance poses with relaxed expressions.
Look beyond the height of a jump or the extension of a leg. A dancer’s face and hands can be just as important to the feeling of the portrait.
28. Jeff Yin
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnJkJA6gTUO/
Jeff Yin is a Chicago-based photographer specialising in ballet and contemporary dance. He describes an approach that combines fine art with street photography, with an emphasis on mood and the dancer’s actual movement.
His work is a reminder to look for expression as well as technique. A photograph can show the effort of dance without losing the person behind the pose.
27. Dane Shitagi / Ballerina Project
https://www.instagram.com/p/BveKCMJB2k-/
Dane Shitagi created the Ballerina Project, a collection of photographs of ballet dancers in locations around the world.
His images take ballet beyond the studio, placing dancers on streets, bridges, and in other everyday settings. Notice how a location can become part of the photograph’s story rather than a backdrop.
26. Gene Schiavone
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvrSovYjxKN/
Gene Schiavone developed his ballet photography by photographing the ABT Studio Company before working with American Ballet Theatre’s main company. His work includes stage performances, studio portraits, and location photographs.
His biography describes the challenge of photographing fast movement in low light. Study how timing and a dancer’s expression can carry the drama of a performance into a single frame.
25. Damian Tierney
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvARqarhzVK/
Damian Tierney is an Australian dance photographer whose Primal Studios website describes a studio built specifically for dancers and performers.
His studio portraits use simple surroundings to draw attention to the dancer. Look at the separation between the figure and the background, and at the shapes made by the dancer’s limbs.
24. Belinda Strodder
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk9cPnSHp2r/
Belinda Strodder is an Australian dance photographer whose work spans dance schools, stage performances, and portraits.
Her images are vibrant and full of energy. Comparing her stage and portrait work shows two different tasks: responding to a performance as it happens and creating a photograph with the dancer.
23. Richard Calmes
https://www.instagram.com/p/BujkS9dAXyP/
Richard Calmes is a former architect based in Atlanta. His dance photography includes studio, nature, and urban settings.
Lighting is a strong part of his work, along with the shapes of dancers’ bodies and flowing costumes. Compare how a figure stands out against a plain studio background and a more complex outdoor scene.
22. Jordan Matter
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJxumYl0N7/
Jordan Matter is the photographer behind Dancers Among Us and Born to Dance. His background in acting and his interest in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photographs helped lead him into photography.
His dance photographs bring expressive movement into everyday situations. They offer ideas for turning a familiar place into a scene with a story.
21. Oliver Endhal / Ballet Zaida
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv7ccwVFSCn/
Oliver Endhal is a former dancer and photographer. Using Ballet Zaida, his personal project, he aims to make the beauty of ballet more accessible to people of all kinds.
As a former dancer, Endhal understands the heart of dance. This is often overlooked by others. His photos are more intimate and whimsical than a typical portrait.
20. Kiera Lynn
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvHeJGghSmT/
Kiera Lynn’s portfolio includes dance portraits and performance photography.
Lynn’s photos are bold and varied. Instead of sticking to one location or editing style, she experiments with different techniques. Compare how changes in the setting and treatment affect the energy of a pose.
19. Tara Lynne
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuxBSVQBDus/
Tara Lynne’s dance photographs have a dreamy feel. Her entry offers a quieter counterpoint to the more dramatic portraits in this collection.
18. Daria Chenikova
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvMp_AXhvHd/
Daria Chenikova is a ballet photographer. Her portraits have an atmospheric, emotional feel.
Her work includes both sharply defined figures and softer images that suggest movement. The contrast offers ideas for giving a dance portrait a different mood.
17. David Hofmann / Sharkcookie
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsjuYHCndSr/
David Hofmann, also known as Sharkcookie, worked in visual effects and at DreamWorks before focusing on photography.
He has photographed dancers in a range of settings: outdoor, indoor, and underwater. His work offers ideas for exploring how a change of environment changes a dance portrait.
16. Ken Browar and Deborah Ory / NYC Dance Project
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu1OVnkBIKC/
Ken Browar and Deborah Ory created the NYC Dance Project. Browar brings experience as a fashion photographer, while Ory’s background combines dance and editorial photography.
They approach each shoot as a collaboration with the dancer, paying attention to movement, lighting, and feeling. Their portraits show how fabric and the human body can work together in a composition.
15. Vadim Stein
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRYSYrXjB_i/
Vadim Stein’s dance photographs have a sculptural feel. His images use the human body, fabric, and light to create expressive shapes.
Look at the spaces between the limbs as well as the figure itself. They are part of the composition, especially when a simple background makes every outline stand out.
14. James Jin
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvPW2lBhcaI/
James Jin began exploring dance photography through his wife and her dancer friends. In an interview with Playbill, he describes wanting to express inner emotions through outward movement.
His portraits pair movement with personality. A simple backdrop can leave room for a gesture, expression, or burst of energy to become the subject of the photograph.
13. Ira Yakovleva
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs_HirEABH0/
Ira Yakovleva brings a professional dancer’s background to ballet photography. Her work has included collaborations with ballet institutions and the magazine La Personne.
Her understanding of the dance world helps her relate to the people she photographs. Alongside posed portraits, look at the candid photos for moments of personality between formal poses.
12. Lois Greenfield
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrTEVE3hY9I/
Lois Greenfield began as a photojournalist before turning to dance. Her work explores moments of movement that are difficult to see with the naked eye.
She collaborates with dancers on improvised movements for the camera. The results can feel surreal, making the relationship between a split-second gesture and the final still photograph central to her work.
11. Darian Volkova
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvoUOTGBRLH/
Darian Volkova is an ex-ballerina turned ballet photographer. Her photos focus on both the elegant and gritty sides of ballet.
This honest view of the dance world has given her the chance to work in theatres in France, Finland, Poland, and many other countries.
Volkova’s work has been featured by Instagram, Elle, and others.
10. Alexander Yakovlev
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtL71DGnCXx/
Alexander Yakovlev’s dance portraits explore the shape and energy of the human body. His images give individual poses a sculptural quality.
His fine art website presents The Mirages as a photographic series. Study how the figure, lighting, and surrounding material work together within the frame.
9. Omar Z. Robles
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvrc5CVH3On/
Omar Z. Robles brings a background in street photography to his photographs of dancers. His study with mime artist Marcel Marceau influenced his interest in telling stories through movement.
His work places the lines of a dancer’s body against city streets and architecture. Notice how the surroundings can strengthen the gesture or introduce a different mood.
8. Eric Paré
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvov5UzDXri/
Eric Paré combines portraiture with “light paintings,” shapes made by moving illuminated tubes during an exposure.
His work brings together the dancer, the light’s path, and the surrounding landscape. Look at how the light frames the person rather than treating it only as a special effect.
7. Magdalena Martin
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv4ApUmn6Uc/
Magdalena Martin is a Swedish photographer based in Paris. Her work includes dance, performance, and editorial photography.
Architecture, light, and atmosphere are recurring elements in her photographs. She treats the person within the setting as the focus, offering a way to think beyond simply placing a dancer in front of a famous landmark.
6. Kenneth Brewster Edwards
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvW_YOlBb9n/
Kenneth Brewster Edwards combines interests in music and photography. In an early first-person introduction, he described working with film cameras as well as digital equipment.
His dance portraits have an intimate feel. Compare the quiet presence of a dancer in a familiar space with the more theatrical scenes elsewhere in this collection.
5. Rachel Neville
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv37jO7j-bI/
Rachel Neville is a former dancer whose photography explores the relationship between movement and emotion. Her portfolio includes dance-company work and conceptual portraits.
Her images are a reminder that movement can be small as well as explosive. The direction of a hand or a shift of weight can matter as much as a leap.
4. Luis Pons
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuVBFZ_gkBa/
Luis Pons brings ballet into urban settings. His photographs pair the strength and control of a dancer with the streets around them.
Look at how the pose relates to the space. The setting can give a portrait a sense of place while leaving the dancer at the centre of the image.
3. Taylor-Ferné Morris
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuVmUVxFUE5/
Taylor-Ferné Morris is an Australian commercial photographer who specialises in dance photography.
In an interview with Photography Studies College, she describes photographing fellow dancers after an injury interrupted her ballet training. Her work brings that understanding of dance to the other side of the camera.
2. Mohamed Taher
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvtdPeNDxm3/
Mohamed Taher is an Egyptian filmmaker and portrait photographer associated with Ballerinas of Cairo.
The project places ballet dancers in Cairo’s streets. It offers a different way to use a city in a dance photograph: the surroundings are part of the subject’s story, rather than an interchangeable background.
1. Lisa Tomasetti
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvGtsMiFawO/
Lisa Tomasetti is a Sydney-based photographer and visual artist whose work includes film, theatre, and dance.
As the Australian Ballet’s international tour photographer from 2006 to 2018, she also developed a project photographing dancers in city streets. Her images place classical ballet poses alongside the details of everyday urban life.
Conclusion
These dance photographers offer different starting points: the drama of a stage performance, the intimacy of a portrait, or the contrast between a dancer and a city street.
Choose one photograph and identify what holds your attention. It might be the outline of a pose, the direction of the light, or the relationship between the dancer and the background. Then plan a photograph around that one idea with your own subject.
If you are a landscape photographer, start with the location-based work and notice how a person changes the scale and feeling of a scene. For any dance shoot, let the dancer guide the movements they can perform comfortably, and build the photograph together.