A few days ago I received a phone call from a reporter at the
Chicago Tribune. A dancer contacted him complaining that she had won a contest
to appear in Dancers Among Us and was then excluded from the book. He was
looking for a comment.
I explained that I had never promised anyone inclusion in
the book. I deeply appreciated every dancer’s effort, and I hated cutting
photos. As I continued to talk, he interrupted me.
“You’re a real piece of S#!T, you know that? You use people
for your own gain, and you don’t give a damn about their feelings. I don’t care
how great you think you are, or how many books you sell, you’re just a piece of S#!T.”
So he was probably not a reporter from the Chicago Tribune
after all. Most likely he was an upset boyfriend who had grown frustrated watching
his girlfriend suffer over the exclusion of her photo. The conversation soon
ended when he hung up on me, but his message continued to resonate.
Recently, I have received many emails and texts from dancers
asking why their images were cut from the book. They’ve all been polite, but
perhaps they were upset too. Maybe some even feel that I took advantage of them
for my own personal gain.
This makes me feel truly awful.
This project began as personal work and evolved into a book eventually. The editing process was brutal, and I hated every minute of it.
We ended up cutting almost half of my photos, probably excluding over fifty
dancers. Each of these dancers made a big investment of time and energy to work
with me, sometimes driving for hundreds of miles or waiting for hours to shoot. The
exclusion of their photo says nothing about their talents as dancers. There was
simply not enough room to include every image, and my publisher and I had to
make very difficult choices.
To every dancer who didn’t make the book: Please know that
my apology is heartfelt. I owe each of you a huge debt of gratitude, and I
won’t forget your efforts. Thank you. I’m sorry.
To the angry boyfriend: Please have your girlfriend call me
if she wants to know the details behind our decision; I’m happy to discuss it
with her.
