Shot my first Dance performance

So i finally got to shoot my girlfriends dance show(University of the Arts in philadelphia). It was a faculty show so the pieces range from Ballet to Modern... Im not posting all of them since there is well over 200 shots . It was my first time shooting a performance and also my first time shooting in an ISO over 800 lol. Well heres some of my favorites. No processing just converted from raw to jpg.

Junior Jazz Piece-
1.

girlfriend? wife? anyways, great shots. nice job using the stage lights to your advantage. stages usually have great lighting on those performers.

agree with the lighting, but the images are kinda small, so it's hard to see detail. You are allowed to post up to 1024 on the longest side, it does help us too.

All good shots, but No 1 gets my money, it is superb. What shutter speed, aperture and lens were you using, and how big you will be going with the images?

Great images, number 3 in the "Modern" group looks like Capoeira. Which may look like dance, but is a very cleverly hidden Martial Art.

Yea, sorry i posted on the smaller side of images i didn't want to clutter everything. I shot everything with my sigma 50-150 f2.8 UK the first shot was 1/400th speed.

Thats exactly what i said about the modern piece!

That one photo is my favorite. You really captured a mood there, and it's beautiful.

Coming from a strong Martial Arts background I've always had a fascination with the history and beauty of Capoeira. You'd never know by looking at practitioners that the true intent of the "dance" was do do another harm, or to be used as self defense. I was just talking with my nephew over Thanksgiving about Tai Chi, and how it may now be used for health, but it's origins are based on one of the deadliest Martial Arts forms. People don't realize the true power and force involved in these "hidden" Martial Arts.


Beautiful Photo!!!!

Yea the two girls had a duo at the beginning of the piece and it was a long Capoeira, it was amazing.

I forgot i had a few from the ballet piece, heres a few...
1.

Just another quick bump, any advice for shooting something action packed like dance would be awesome!

MrMorrill wrote in post #6862160
Just another quick bump, any advice for shooting something action packed like dance would be awesome!

wide angle and walk a lot closer to the stage or maybe even a fisheye

For me, these all work really well. It's just a shame they are a little on the dark side. Is there any way for you to lighten them up a little without losing anything?

Lovely shots; I'd love the chance to shoot events like that.

As for dance and martial arts, someone was describing a karate kick to me - bringing the leg up using the stomach muscles then using the leg muscles to extend the lower leg. Identical in concept to a ballet developee, albeit at different speed.

I used to do dancing, Pilates and a little bit of martial arts. It was amazing how all concentrated on building and focusing a strong centre and spreading the energy from there.

Anyone who claims a dancer is a wuss just doesn't know what s/he's talking about!

regards,
/alan

Thanks for the comments guys!
Alan, haha id never tell my girlfriend that shes a wuss. Some one who practices kicks for 5-10 hours a day for 18+years ill pass on being kicked lol.

Disney, im not allowed to get really close since the other dancers are scattered everywhere and since the 30d's shutter is so loud i have to sit some what in the back.

really enjoy the ambient light