As a Michigan dance photographer, I am very fortunate to be able to work with a lot of professional and aspiring dancers to help them create dance audition portfolios. More and more Michigan dancers are realizing how important it is to have a high quality dance portfolio to truly compete in an audition and have been contacting me to schedule an indoor studio dance photography session. These are typically some of my favorite sessions to photograph because they’re about attitude, drama and lighting!

If you are creating a dance audition portfolio, you should have at least three basic images including:

Professional head shot
Dance shot in leotard and tights
Dance shot in costume.

Consider these three images to be the bare minimum for a dance portfolio. From there, you can build out your portfolio by including additional images by getting more artistic with the poses, costumes and lighting. Do not underestimate the importance of presenting your images in a professional manner – always use a professional quality presentation portfolio to display your images!

Most recently, I had the opportunity to work with Elizabeth in the studio for a dance photography session after we completed a session for her senior pictures. The goal was to help her start a dance portfolio. So, we kept the lighting very simple for a dramatic effect and used a single Elinchrom soft box to directly light her for all of the dance photography images. I absolutely love these images and it was very difficult to only select a few for this blog post. Which one is your favorite?

If you are in Metro Detroit and need help building your dance audition portfolio, I would love the opportunity to work with you! Please feel free to contact me online or call 313-883-9500 for additional information about a dance photography session. I can’t wait to hear from you!