# Fans of Dance: How do you View Dance Photos vs. Actual Dancing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768 "2018-02-13T16:00:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768/1 "2018-02-13T16:00:32Z")
I have a vague understanding of Dance, meaning as a Discipline and Art, rooted in various dance styles. But I get the NYTimes, and each of the various dance companies have ads that feature the most sculptural, athletic/erotic, in-motion-but-posed photos of the hottest human beings imaginable. Cool - thanks! But the key word there is “sculptural” - the photos feature a stationary moment. And yet Dance is, by _definition_, Humans in Motion. Any posed photo is a micro second and, more importantly, _not the point_ relative to whatever motion/action the dancer is executing. Do I get it? Is this a kinda-weird dichotomy to Dance People, or just something an outsider is confused by? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768/2 "2018-02-13T16:54:24Z")
They are just like any ad for any thing They are putting the best, cherrie-picked photo of beautiful Dancers in a beautiful pose to intrigue you and make you buy a product (or tickets to the ballet). Dancers generally have beautiful bodies. Movement is their business. Wouldn’t be cool to have newspapers like the Harry Potter movies, moving pictures with sound? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768/3 "2018-02-13T17:52:17Z")
An advertisement for a dance is not a dance. Just like a movie poster is not a movie. It’s one small piece designed to get you interested in the whole work. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768/4 "2018-02-14T10:43:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > An advertisement for a dance is not a dance. Just like a movie poster is not a movie. It’s one small piece designed to get you interested in the whole work. Yes, clearly. And movie posters can have their own issues capturing the essence of a movie in a snapshot-appealing sort of way. I was just looking at a standard Sunday Arts page of those ads and pondering the fact that, in reality, you would see any one of those poses for maybe a microsecond, and it would never register in that posed way, but rather as part of a dance motion. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768/5 "2018-02-14T11:02:07Z")
I think this famous series captures the mood of great dancing in stills: [The Lindy Hop, 1943](http://time.com/3739226/lindy-hop/) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768/6 "2018-02-14T11:19:44Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I think this famous series captures the mood of great dancing in stills: > > [The Lindy Hop, 1943](http://time.com/3739226/lindy-hop/) Oh yeah - those are great. Note that they are not “sculptural” photos, framing the dancers sinewy, superfit body in a seemingly-fixed and prone pose. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768/7 "2018-02-14T14:10:19Z")
What is dancing, but a whole series of poses. Unless the dancers are posed in some way they would never be able to achieve while dancing, I’m good. One of my friends is a dancer with the local ballet company, and the best still photos of her are a very good reflection of what she looks like in motion. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768/8 "2018-02-15T02:47:40Z")
For me, a lot of those poses are static at that point, but the idea of movement is inherent. They are unstable, about to jump or land, have a twist in them, whatever. The poses often let me appreciate little details of hand gesture or head position that I don’t always notice in a performance, but which add to the effect. So the pictures prompt a response based on memory and anticipation. Then there are the costumes, the lighting, the set and so on to give an idea of what the performance will be like. A photo is not the same as a dance; it’s like a photo of food. It’s meant to look beautiful and/or evocative. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fans-of-dance-how-do-you-view-dance-photos-vs-actual-dancing/808768/9 "2018-02-15T10:39:50Z")
> [@Weedy](#): > > A photo is not the same as a dance; it’s like a photo of food. It’s meant to look beautiful and/or evocative. Ah, that works. Yes, I think a big part of it is how you see the photo’s pose within the context of the dance motion happening. For the food photo analogy: there are food photos that, hmm, cross a line to you, aren’t there? Where a food has been so glamorized or the photo so messed-with that you don’t feel good about the food that is being presented to you as something special. ?? I can’t cite a specific example right now, but some photos that feature melting butter on the food serving or other fat-deliciousness strike me as yucky. I don’t think the sculptural dance photos cross the same line as some food-sales photos, just thinking through that analogy.