Isabella Francis (left), 12, of Marion and Victoria Muniz, 12, of Carterville, stretch backstage during a dress rehearsal for Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale, Ill. on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. The group will perform at 7:30 p.m. tonight and 3:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. (Joel Hawksley / The Southern)
One of my favorite parts of working at The Southern is the flexibility I have in pursuing personal assignments. In addition to our normal daily work for stories our reporters develop, we find a single feature picture to run on the first inside page every day. These “page two” assignments are great because we often use the images for a future story down the road.
I’ve always enjoyed working in theater, and have come to love making images backstage at events such as the Arnold Classic and performances by the Marching 110. After hearing the local symphony orchestra was going to be performing The Nutcracker this past weekend, I immediately got on the phone and made a few calls to the folks at Shryock Auditorium, who were incredibly helpful in setting up access for a dress rehearsal on Friday.
While I only had a few minutes to shoot before heading off to one of my regular assignments, I was quite happy to see my planning pay off.
Victoria Muniz (left), 12, of Carterville, and Isabella Francis, 12, of Marion stretch backstage during a dress rehearsal for Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale, Ill. on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. The group will perform at 7:30 p.m. tonight and 3:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. (Joel Hawksley / The Southern)
Dancers wait to take the stage during a dress rehearsal for Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale, Ill. on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (Joel Hawksley / The Southern)
Diana Shepherd puts on her shoes during a dress rehearsal for Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale, Ill. on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (Joel Hawksley / The Southern)
Dancers wait to take the stage during a dress rehearsal for Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale, Ill. on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (Joel Hawksley / The Southern)
Patricia Krejcik of Carbondale catches her breath backstage during a dress rehearsal for Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale, Ill. on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (Joel Hawksley / The Southern)
Gracie Collins, 14, of Herrin, rests backstage during a dress rehearsal for Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale, Ill. on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (Joel Hawksley / The Southern)
Hallie Chametzky performs during a dress rehearsal for Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale, Ill. on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (Joel Hawksley / The Southern)
Amanda
Wednesday, December 19th 2012Beautiful job Joel! I love the last image and the one of the two girls sitting, stretching on the floor. Keep it up!
Donellen Baer
Sunday, January 20th 2013These are wonderful photos! These girls work so hard and put in an amazing amount of time to perform. Thank You! for documenting it.