'A New Day'

'I danced professionally for 18 years with several major ballet companies in both Canada and the United States including Les Grands Ballets Canadiens of Montreal and Pacific Northwest Ballet located in Seattle. After my ballet career I was in the touring company of the Broadway show Fosse then was hired by Franco Dragone as an original cast member for Celine Dion's Las Vegas show, 'A New Day'. Since retiring from performing full time I have performed on occasion in Salt Lake City with touring groups and performers such as Martha Wash performing 'It's Raining Men'.
Currently I am a Graphic Design Student specializing in tattoo and logo design and creation.'
Dale


Above: Dale by Bill McClaren.

It always amazes me when you see a photo and it is totally able to play on your assumptions, manipulate a preconceived biases and force you to look at something in a new light. This is what happened when I first saw shots of Dale.

The first shot I saw was a shot sent to me by Bill after his shoot with Dale. The shot was Dale standing shirtless, tattoo's in full display, wearing jeans and wearing sun glasses and a cowboy hat. The shot was raw, sexual, beautiful. I immediately made assumptions about Dale, who he was, what he did for a living solely based on how Bill chose to present him.

About a week later Michael Puff sent me a link to choose shots from his work with Dale. The first shot I viewed was Dale sailing through the air, naked, light, beautiful with white fabric flowing behind him.

The juxtaposition between the two shots was startling to me. I could never imagined the man in the first shot by Bill was a ballet dancer, someone who night after night for 3 years danced behind Celine Dion in Vegas. I could never have imagined he would be flying through the air as he was in the second shot by Michael. Despite my goal not to assume, the power of the lens, the power of the artist was most certainly at work.

Dale says that photographers like that 'I am able to move, and create extreme poses without looking like your typical dancer.'

After getting to know Dale I am not sure there really is 'typical dancer' look. I just know that Dale has the ability not only to bust assumptions but to transform himself in front of the camera, creating beautiful, extreme, and dramatic images.

Two shots below by Michael Puff.