The young models in this series dance for various companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. In their lithe grace they embody for me the muse of dance, Terpsichore. I’ve been a dancer since I was nine years old and have always admired the strength, grace, and singularity of the human body. Nudes have beguiled me since I first picked up my camera in 1990. In this series these daughters of Terpsichore pose from the heart and from the natural inclinations of their own bodies. I always watch for that spontaneous moment when the dancer feels comfortable and at ease—whether she is moving or even in between specific poses—because that will often be the perfect moment of composition when movement, form, feeling, and light all fall into a harmony I couldn’t have predicted: the surprise and satisfaction of collaboration.

These photographs are printed on cotton rag watercolor paper that I have coated by brush with a mixture of platinum and palladium, giving them long tonal range, depth, and permanence