Much thanks to the indomitable Felicity Cormack for organising the Drawing From Dance workshop which took place at Asthall Manor, near Burford, Oxfordshire, on Sunday 18 November, and to Luke Brown from Luke Brown Dance Ltd for providing the dancers who proved such brilliant subjects for the day long session in this 17th century manor’s grand ballroom. The session was fully subscribed and a great success.
Approach
It’s amazing how many and varied were approaches of the sixteen artists taking part in addressing the challenge of drawing and capturing movement. Some fix their eyes on the subject, hold the pen or brush on the paper and allow their hand to move where it will as they follow the motion of the dancers, resulting in an abstract composition that they either leave in its raw form or work up in ink or colour. My own approach is to try to mentally photograph a single moment and quickly record it, generally using charcoal for instant impact, while the dancers continue their performance.
I attended a previous similar session run by Felicity last year. The drawings arising from that session are included in the Drawing From Life page on this site. I have posted a handful of images from this session on the same page.
I attach images of the day below.