“Wouldn’t it be cool if you were just walking down NE Broadway and out of nowhere someone began dancing, I mean really dancing, when you least expected it? Wouldn’t that make you smile? . . .
So imagine a whole book of such things. That’s what photographer Jordan Matter started by asking a member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company to dance for him in a place where dance is unexpected. So, dressed in a commuter’s suit and tie, the dancer flew across a Times Square subway platform. And in that image Matter found what he’d been searching for: a way to express the feeling of being fully alive in the moment, unselfconscious, present.
Organized around themes of work, play, love, exploration, dreaming, and more, the book Dancers Among Us celebrates life in a way that’s fresh, surprising, pure and joyful . . . The book presents one thrilling photograph after another of dancers leaping, spinning, lifting, kicking, but in the midst of daily life: on the beach, at a construction site, in a library, a restaurant, a park. With each image, the reader feels more optimistic, elated even, eager to see the next bit of magic. One reviewer wrote: ‘I wonder, if we could see into people’s souls, would we see them dancing just like this?'”—Broadway Books, Portland
Read more and buy Dancers Among Us from Broadway Books or your local indie.
Each day until Christmas, the tireless booksellers at Broadway Books will post a recommendation for a great gift book (or seven!) on the store’s blog, Bookbroads. 24 Days of Books posts are written by Sally McPherson, Roberta Dyer and Kate Bennison.