Photographing Dance Shows

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Shooting stage performances is quite a challenge for a photographer. Different dancers quickly move across the stage under low or changing light performing poses and dance figures in a fraction of a second. Such conditions place a strong demand on a photographer's skills and equipment.
Dance shows have so much action going on around the stage that it is impossible to capture all interesting moments in one session. So you won't get bored even if you shoot the same show more than one time. Besides, you can use a slightly different approach every time and achieve very different photographic results. Because of the fast dance movements it is as good as impossible to exactly know how the photos will look later, which can mean positive as well as negative surprises when watching them later.
The suggestions below are based on my experiences of shooting flamenco and belly dance shows. The example photos were taken at four performances of a flamenco group called...