Dancing into the Sunset - Battery Dance Festival

On August 9th Daddy and I went to the Battery Dance Festival in New York City. We arrived a little late, so all the seats were already taken, but we still found a good spot in the back to watch — and shoot — the performance.

Luckily, we were prepared. Daddy brought a 90mm lens with his Leica M10-P camera, and daddy’s friend, a professional dance photographer, let me borrow his Nikon D850 with an 85mm lens. Both lenses gave me a good reach to the stage even from the back.

The whole program happened right during golden hour, the light was magical. The stage was right on the waterfront, so the Hudson River sparkled behind the dancers, and the Statue of Liberty was literally in the background!

Battery Dance Festival @ The New Wagner Park, NYC

There were two performances that night, and they were both so good but also totally different:

John Manzari & Band – Recenter

Tap dancing + live music = AMAZING. It was so full of energy and rhythm. John's tap shoes were like instruments! The dancers moved with so much sharpness and emotion. I especially loved how they interacted with each other on stage — you could tell they were having fun.

Ballet Hispánico – Sombrerísimo

WOW. This one was visually stunning. All the dancers wore bright bodysuits in reds, yellows, and oranges — they looked like they were glowing against the sunset. They leapt in perfect sync, and everything felt so bold and powerful.

By the time they took their final bow, the sun had already set and the stage lights were on.

Comparing the two cameras that I used that night... even though the Nikon D850 has autofocus and is super fast, it kept focusing on the background — like the water — instead of the dancers.

Meanwhile, with the manual focus Leica M10-P, I could just keep the lens locked on the stage and the dancers stayed sharp. It felt more calm and assuring, like the Nikon F3 film camera that I have been used to.