DogWood Middle School Dance Team
Dogwood Middle School Dance Team
For nearly a decade, Kat has partnered with the dancers from Dogwood Middle School (formerly Binford Middle School) on an annual photography collaboration celebrating movement, creativity, and the individual stories of each dancer. Each year, dancers are invited to explore a new theme through movement and portraiture, creating a collection of images that captures their growth, artistry, and connection to the Richmond dance community.
Explore each year's collaboration below and meet the dancers who helped bring these projects to life.
Dogwood Dancers Throughout the Years
In partnership with Mending Walls, Dogwood dancers explored the theme of trust through movement and photography. Dancers created expressive poses in front of Richmond's Trust Building/s mural series, using movement as a way to reflect connection, empathy, and community.
For year seven, dancers stepped into the historic spaces of the Branch Museum, using the architecture, gardens, and surrounding environment as inspiration for their portraits. The project highlighted the relationship between movement, history, and place while allowing each dancer's personality and artistry to shine.
Year six brought the dancers to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where art and dance came together to inspire each portrait. Surrounded by world-class artwork and architecture, dancers explored how movement can interact with visual art and create new forms of expression.
For the fifth year of the collaboration, dancers returned to the Kat Jones Creative Photography Studio for a more intimate portrait experience. Without the distraction of a location, the focus shifted to each dancer's movement, personality, and individual artistry.
Year four invited dancers to connect movement with nature by choosing an earth element that represented them. Each dancer incorporated their chosen element into their portraits, creating a personal and symbolic collection celebrating individuality, creativity, and self-expression.
For Year Three, dancers took their portraits into the vibrant streets and businesses of Carytown. The colorful and energetic neighborhood became the backdrop for a collection that celebrated the dancers' personalities while showcasing the connection between dance and the Richmond community.
Year two brought the dancers into the historic Fan District, just steps from their middle school. Using the neighborhood's architecture and familiar surroundings as inspiration, the project celebrated the dancers' connection to the place where they learned, practiced, and grew together.
The beginning of an annual tradition. The first collaboration took place at Dogwood Middle School, creating a collection that introduced the idea of celebrating young dancers through professional photography while highlighting the talent and creativity within the dance company.