Dance Ink: Photographs: Edited by J. Abbot Miller & Patsy Tarr, Designed by Miller, Essays by Nancy Dalva

Dance Ink was a magazine that, during its short six-year life (1990-96), shone brightly with some of the best photography of modern dance of that time. The layout and design of the magazine was innovative and superb. This book presents some of the best of the Dance Ink images in a lush large soft cover publication (the dimensions from amazon.com are 0.83 x 12.14 x 10.08, 192 pages). All the photographs are black and white duotones, although some of the layouts use color and the photos of Paul Taylor have a blue tint. The layout is very pleasing to the eye. (e.g., if you open the book about halfway, you will find two black glossy pages with only the word Intermission printed in white on the right hand page)

The book also contains essays on some of the giants of dance, like Taylor, Mark Morris, and Twyla Tharp. These are incisive, inspiring essays that complement the photos of subjects well.

Some of the photographers are Andrew Eccles, Annie Leibovitz, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Joanne Savio, Josef Astor, Marcia Lippman, and Alice Garick.

All the photos are staged shots, shots of rehearsals or portraits. I do not think there are any performance or dress performance photos.

If you love dance, especially contemporary dance, this is a wonderful book. It is a visual delight. As a photographer who photographs dance companies, I find this book an inspiration.