In Orlando, Florida, I became involved with an avant garde dance group called Revolutions Per Minute. After attending several performances, their leader, Niki Lin, invited me to watch them practice. Eventually I was cajoled into joining them. This was an incredible opportunity to learn about dance from the inside. Ultimately I began to tinker with my own choreography before I was pulled away by my band, The View. I still credit RPM with helping break down any fears I had about performing on stage. If I could get up and dance in front of a crowd of hundreds at a festival, I could get up and play my own music. I originally intended this tribute painting to be of a dance called "Primary Colors," which featured Niki, and two of her better dancers. I was attracted to the interplay between the performers and their visually- arresting costumes of red, yellow and blue. After photographing several of their shows, I found that the dance wasn't particularly interesting without the inherent aspect of movement. The piece "Violent Playground," which featured an entirely different set of dancers, seemed to have the most interesting poses when reduced to still frames. The piece tries to convey the violent "playground" in which we all live, so I tried imagining their dance on a simple street-like stage which would be sympathetic to the group's urban stance. Thus the cloudy, ominous sky and the dark wall looming over them. Looking at the photos, I was constantly distracted by the chaotic backgrounds behind most of the shows, so I opted to keep the background very simple and stage-like. This had the added advantage of throwing the spotlight directly on the dancers and their angular movements. For more information on the group and my involvement with them, see my photos and chapter 5 of my biography, "Rock and Roll In Florida".
All work displayed on this page © 1991, 2002 Rick Hines.
Material may not be used without the artist's written permission.