SKD Mini-Camp Day 2.

Well, today was day two of the Sacramento Kings Dancers mini-camp. Yesterday I covered a lot of the business end of things... but today was on to the dance floor! The dancers had to get down two routines this afternoon. They were lead by Jenn Santich and two choreographers. It was a lot of hard work with very little time for things like breaks and rests.

The session began with the dancers getting warmed up. They did a variety of things to prepare themselves for the rigors of the upcoming practice. I don't know about you, but I probably wouldn't last for even this portion of the day!

The routines that the dancers learn are very complex. Each dancer has to be spot on. A tremendous amount of time is used to get everything perfect. This is definitely the big leagues of dancing... the dancers must be able to hit their marks each and every time they are in front of a crowd.

You can feel the energy in the room when the dancers get going. They move fast and with attitude! Fierce. Yes, fierce is the word I'm looking for! I have to use a very high shutter speed in order to freeze the action. Unfortunately, the studio they use is not well lit, so I have to compensate with a pretty high ISO. These are just the thing to deal with in photography.

Jenn was watching the dancers the entire time making sure practice was going smoothly. You can tell that the SKD are very important to her, and she wants them to give it their best. I'm very fortunate to be able to work with her, and it's Jenn who has allowed me to come in and cover this weekend's events! So a big thank you goes out to her!

Even with a tough and energy-intensive practice, the dancers finish with smiles. They seem to have an unlimited amount of energy. I need so somehow tap into that. I was getting tired just holding my 70-200 lens for the two hours I was out there!