Zikr Dance Ensemble
Client since 2009
Design Photography has been a graphic and concept designer for the contemporary dance company Zik Dance Ensemble.
Zikr – the remembrance of God “Remember” is too pale a word for zikr, which has now acquired a large number of associations in our religious literature, especially Sufi literature.
The Zikr Dance Ensemble offers a spectrum of works that include transcendent dance rituals from many different ancient world cultures throughout history along with original and contemporary dance/theatre realizations. The company’s purpose is to offer performance experiences of spiritual atonement for both participants and audiences alike which are both theatrically engaging and educational and that also connect to numerous organizations dedicated to both promoting spiritual tolerance and multi-cultural understanding for the entire community.
Marketing design and photography
One of the more fascinating projects involved developing poster designs and seasonal ads, each built around a strong central concept shaped through collaboration with Artistic Director David Taylor. Much of the visual direction stemmed from performance photography, which was then integrated into the overall artistic vision using Adobe Photoshop and extensive adjustment layers.
Posters
Postcards and ads
Anatomy of a design
Invocation - The Lady of the Lake
The branding concept for Invocation drew from a range of ideas and inspirations. Zikr founder and artistic director David Taylor originally planned to choreograph a piece titled The Lady of the Lake, and he shared a digital artwork he had found online to help guide the visual direction. Another source of inspiration came from an acrylic crystal sculpture installation at the Lumonics Gallery, where we captured close-up photographs to incorporate into the design.
One of the challenges was featuring Zikr dancers in the poster without the benefit of a dedicated photoshoot. Instead, we selected compelling performance images from past productions.
Creating the setting posed another hurdle. The concept required a lake, and compositing the crystal sculptures into a natural photographic scene initially looked disjointed and unnatural. After extensive work in Photoshop using numerous adjustment layers, we arrived at a satisfying result. The lake background was sourced from Custer State Park, whose natural symmetry provided the perfect foundation for the final composition.
Ancient Shadows
Much of the inspiration of this work came from the work of scuptural and costume artist George Peters who provided the tribal costumes as well as the image of the bamboo trees. The biggest challenge was to get the dancer in costume with the accompanying tatoos and spear.
