Deny Grigorik – pole dancer

Dance promo
photos

I really enjoyed working on this project. Deny Grigorik is a dancer, choreographer, teacher of exotic pole dance and frame up style. Also multiple winner in Czech Pole Art. Deny approached me because she was looking for a creative to create completely original promo photos for her that she didn’t already have in her portfolio. The condition was to put emphasis on the dancing shoes and the artistic side of photography.

Team

Zuzana Fajmonova
Deny Grigorik
Adéla Anděla

How did this project come about?

Every project of mine is preceded by quite a complex preparation and planning. I have written down for you in a few points how the preparation for this project went.

Before each project, I start planning with brainstorming and creating a moodboard that helps me show the client my vision. I find inspiration mainly in foreign advertising and fashion photography, art history and Pinterest, where I sort my ideas by individual projects.

I have had the idea of making photographs inspired by cubism in my head for more than a year. Thanks to Dena, I had the opportunity to elaborate on this idea in more detail. This is how Kostka was created (see the story of Kostka in the backstage videos). What do I mean, the dice? I had the idea of making a giant prop in my studio that could fit a person, but not quite. I wanted Deny to have a little less space than she really needed and be a little cramped in there. The reason? To make the dancing poses stand out, the shoes and most importantly, because I love unconventional poses in photography. The “weirder” the better :-).

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Moodboard

The Moodboard is a blueprint for me of what I’m going to shoot. Today I can’t even go on a small photo shoot without it. Thanks to it, I not only know what I’m going to shoot, but I also know how the whole scene will look, how I’m going to light it, what poses I want the model to strike, I know the color scheme, the space, what to bring and other necessary information.

Moodboard is also a form of brainstorming for me. I save ideas for a long time and when the time is right, I start pulling them out and stacking them side by side. I put the photos side by side and in the end I know exactly what the final project will look like.

The moodboard for Dena was in turquoise-orange colour, with extravagant make-up, hairstyles and colourful outfits and of course with poses that are difficult for a normal person to do, but which are no problem for a professional dancer.

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team

On any major photo shoot, collaboration with other pros is an indispensable item. Until recently, I did everything myself. Yes, it can be done, but eventually you just can’t do enough. Sometimes you don’t strike a pose, you don’t hold your own light, you don’t do your makeup as perfect as a pro. I’m so glad Deny brought Angel with her to the makeup session . She’s an incredibly great makeup artist. Andelka is a multiple Czech and multiple world makeup champion!

backstage_adela_andela_makeup_deny_grigorik_zuzana_fajmonova_web

Implementation

The whole photo shoot was preceded by the making of the Cube. I involved my whole family in the production :-). Thanks to my wonderful husband, I was able to make this idea a reality. The production took a few days. I started by planning the ideal size, which ended up being 160 cm on all sides. Deny is almost 2m tall with shoes on, so this size was ideal for my plan. My husband had the wood cut at the wood shop, together we assembled the boards together, and at the end I painted it turquoise, which was the main colour for my moodboard.

Dance shoes

Poledance shoes are often referred to as “high heels” and are specially designed shoes for exotic pole dancing. They look great on your foot, add about twenty numbers and according to Dena, they are even comfortable!

Deny wanted to accentuate the shoes as much as possible.