By Selina Mao
Art embodies many things-- a form of expression, a reflection of skill, a window to the most honest part of someone—but most of all it is a state of mind, holding in its beauty both power and fluidity. Cara Tench is a teacher at Collingwood, and may perhaps be most prominently considered in conjunction to dance and her marvelous pieces of choreography. Sometimes, however, she trades in her mindset of being on stage interacting with the spotlight, for a more introspective, contemplative one. She refers to it as the “fly on the wall” phenomenon, an observant contrast to the interactive performing arts, in which she is most often involved.
Ms. Tench was born in Victoria and raised in White Rock. However, she claims the place which sets her inner artist alight is New York City, where “all the great artists convene, whether its visual art, music or performing.” She expresses that the place inspires a “constant challenge for artists to create and be better” with its vibrant, diverse, and cosmopolitan atmosphere.
In addition to dance, Ms. Tench had delved into other arts, photography most prominently. She was initially introduced to photography in the seventh grade, when she took a dark room photography course at boarding school—the National ballet school. It was then that she first held a moment-capturing lens before her eyes—a 35mm manual camera. The subject of Ms. Tench’s photography is dance, a category she has been actively pursuing with the photography program she took at Jacob’s Pillow, who's dance festival is highly esteemed “Mecca for dancers and choreographers”. She has also taken courses at Emily Carr, taking every possible initiative to capture a beautiful moment. By the utmost definition Ms. Tench surmises that her developing passion is of the spirit of, “melding my two worlds together by capturing dance in photography”. She reveals that what she most enjoys as well as the personal significance photography has for her is, “being able to pinpoint a moment in time in a dance and convey y understanding of that moment to an audience”. Tench also divulges that at this point, photography also holds the glamor of being a new and secretive thing that fills her with a burst of excitement when she shares her pieces.
Despite the freshness of her portrayal of dance photography, she is also already very accomplished in the field, having had her professional photos used as promo for the “Chutzpah! Festival” in the Georgia Straight newspaper. Additionally she has also done two photo shoots with dance companies in the month of July and August, both of which have chosen one of her photos for promo—something she discovered when she noticed the two photos coincidentally side by side on the promotion platform.
Ms. Tench’s style as a dance photographer is dynamic, her photos capturing, “strong movement, action, active moments”. She is inspired by fellow artists like Rahi Rezvani, Rose Eichenbaum and Karolina Kuras. In addition to photography, Ms. Tench also loves dancing and going for nature appreciation walks—some amounting up to four hours. She also indulges in the joys of theatre shows, visiting the art gallery, museums and Broadway.
She feels it is only the “baby step beginnings of this journey, [and is] excited to follow this passion for awhile”, on her way, experimenting and “push[ing] boundaries of making new discoveries of the art form—of dance, by experimenting with photography”.
Art embodies many things-- a form of expression, a reflection of skill, a window to the most honest part of someone—but most of all it is a state of mind, holding in its beauty both power and fluidity. Cara Tench is a teacher at Collingwood, and may perhaps be most prominently considered in conjunction to dance and her marvelous pieces of choreography. Sometimes, however, she trades in her mindset of being on stage interacting with the spotlight, for a more introspective, contemplative one. She refers to it as the “fly on the wall” phenomenon, an observant contrast to the interactive performing arts, in which she is most often involved.
Ms. Tench was born in Victoria and raised in White Rock. However, she claims the place which sets her inner artist alight is New York City, where “all the great artists convene, whether its visual art, music or performing.” She expresses that the place inspires a “constant challenge for artists to create and be better” with its vibrant, diverse, and cosmopolitan atmosphere.
In addition to dance, Ms. Tench had delved into other arts, photography most prominently. She was initially introduced to photography in the seventh grade, when she took a dark room photography course at boarding school—the National ballet school. It was then that she first held a moment-capturing lens before her eyes—a 35mm manual camera. The subject of Ms. Tench’s photography is dance, a category she has been actively pursuing with the photography program she took at Jacob’s Pillow, who's dance festival is highly esteemed “Mecca for dancers and choreographers”. She has also taken courses at Emily Carr, taking every possible initiative to capture a beautiful moment. By the utmost definition Ms. Tench surmises that her developing passion is of the spirit of, “melding my two worlds together by capturing dance in photography”. She reveals that what she most enjoys as well as the personal significance photography has for her is, “being able to pinpoint a moment in time in a dance and convey y understanding of that moment to an audience”. Tench also divulges that at this point, photography also holds the glamor of being a new and secretive thing that fills her with a burst of excitement when she shares her pieces.
Despite the freshness of her portrayal of dance photography, she is also already very accomplished in the field, having had her professional photos used as promo for the “Chutzpah! Festival” in the Georgia Straight newspaper. Additionally she has also done two photo shoots with dance companies in the month of July and August, both of which have chosen one of her photos for promo—something she discovered when she noticed the two photos coincidentally side by side on the promotion platform.
Ms. Tench’s style as a dance photographer is dynamic, her photos capturing, “strong movement, action, active moments”. She is inspired by fellow artists like Rahi Rezvani, Rose Eichenbaum and Karolina Kuras. In addition to photography, Ms. Tench also loves dancing and going for nature appreciation walks—some amounting up to four hours. She also indulges in the joys of theatre shows, visiting the art gallery, museums and Broadway.
She feels it is only the “baby step beginnings of this journey, [and is] excited to follow this passion for awhile”, on her way, experimenting and “push[ing] boundaries of making new discoveries of the art form—of dance, by experimenting with photography”.