NEW YORK CITY
Rosalie O’Connor Photography
Rosalie O’Connor danced with American Ballet Theatre for fifteen years until her retirement in 2002. She began to document ABT from within using 35mm film during her last six years as a dancer. 2002 marked her transition on the ABT roster from Dancer to Staff Photographer, and simultaneously she started Rosalie O’Connor Photography, becoming a full-time freelancer.
In addition to most dance periodicals, her images have also appeared in Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times. Rosalie’s photographs have been displayed in solo exhibitions at Lincoln Center in New York and at The John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Based in New York City, her assignments take her across the country and occasionally beyond.
Sometimes, people want to know a bit more about the photographer, something more personal. Instead of a straightforward autobiography of words, I wanted to share a string of significant moments for me using photographs, informed by captions. Cecil Beaton named his 1951 memoir, PHOTOBIOGRAPHY. Perhaps you can think of this as my PhotoBiography. The images chosen for Delving Deeper are professional moments that are key to how I’ve had careers in the two fields I’ve loved. Starting from the very beginning.
Portfolio
Stella Abrera, flying! In the Upper Room, Choreography by Twyla Tharp, American Ballet Theatre, 2005
This permanent gallery of photographs features images captured over the course of nearly 25 years of assignments. What you will see here, frozen in time, are moments that amazed or thrilled or moved me. It’s my hope that they’ll affect you that way too!
Portraiture
Dressing room storage, Beth Gaither’s pointe shoes.
Environmental Portraiture
These images, some of them candid, some of them posed, are almost entirely of individuals photographed in their natural environment, often at work, or outside in nature but always in places where they are most comfortable and at ease with themselves.
Gillian Murphy, First Portrait, 1997.
Studio Portraiture
All but six images in this gallery of portraits were taken in my NYC apartment. Among them my first official portrait. My subject on that Sunday morning in 1997, the newest member of American Ballet Theatre, a stunningly talented, strong and fearless seventeen-year-old. Her name: Gillian Murphy.
Just Kids
Aran Bell, in class at the legendary Carlisle “Barn,” Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, 2007.
One of the many benefits of my lengthy career is that I first photographed many of today’s professional dancers when they were students, some as young as eight years old. From my perspective, essentially as a visual dance historian, observing them over the years, and witnessing their early successes and development as artists has been profoundly moving.
Faces I Miss Photographing
Susan Jaffe and Julio Bocca in rehearsal, American Ballet Theatre, 2002.
A dancer’s career is far too brief. Among the dazzling dancers I began documenting at ABT in the fall of 1996, are many who have since retired. This gallery is a small selection of faces I miss seeing in rehearsals and onstage. I miss seeing their ever-evolving interpretations of multiple roles. And I miss photographing them.
In Memory of
Paul Taylor, with Susan Jones, American Ballet Theatre, 2001.
These are images of individuals I worked with during my own career as a dancer. They are as important to me as they are unforgettable, and many of them died too soon. Luckily, after my career ended, I documented all of them when I took on the new role of dance photographer. Because these special people were beloved by many and are greatly missed, I asked several colleagues and friends to offer a few words about their personal connections with them to offer different perspectives on their impact. I am grateful for their all saying yes, and for their insights.
Spotlight Galleries
Wendy Whelan, Litergy, Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon, Dancers Responding to AIDS, Fire Island Dance Festival, 2011
Spotlight Galleries presents a selection of slideshows that take a uniquely close look at its subjects. Some collections highlight my long-term relationship with a given company, which make it possible – and fascinating – to watch that company evolve over time and through a variety of repertoire. Several collections focus on the evolution of a single dancer, while other slideshows concentrate on specific themes, among them a look inside my 2004 visit to document the Freed Factory and my ongoing series on varieties of the exquisite orchid plant. In this gallery you can also see my pandemic series, titled Signs of the Times.
Iggy Berlin, is a man with many talents and a large repertoire as a supernumerary at ABT, including delivering bouquets of flowers onstage, then helping hold open the curtain for page bows.