Revolutionary Girl Utena: Dance Off

August 10, 2014

FOR THE RECORD: It was my intention that this shoot be named "RGU: Dance Dance Revolution", because I thought that was a fun nod to DDR. Avian Firefly believes that this shoot should be named "RGU: Dance RevoLUUUtion!", a la the way "Take my revoLUUUtion!" is pronounced in the opening lyrics. Dave determined that it was the photographer's right to name the shoot, and I think chose a third name so as not to play favorites. They're both lucky that my penchant for consistency is stronger than my attachment to PERFECT NAMES THAT I THOUGHT UP.

Now that that's out of the way. This was the last costume of the weekend (even I'm not insane enough to wear more than one costume on a Sunday) and the last true photoshoot of the weekend, for all of us. We had no idea going into the shoot what we were going to do--after all, Utena and Kozue are in, I think, four episodes together, and I don't think they even talk to each other in the first two. They don't like each other, but they barely interact at all. Plus, we were in their Rosebride dresses, which neither of them wear for very long, or in Utena's case, very willingly. How would these two characters interact given these circumstances?

I don't know how it evolved into a dance. Avi studied dance in college and I knew that; and given that so much of Utena is a power play (both in the duels and in the academy at large) we needed a way to show the fluctuation of dominance without fighting. And, what the heck, all of Utena is symbolic, anyway--a dance off would NOT be the weirdest thing to happen in that series. All I *do* know is that this was one of the most naturally evolving, organic photoshoots I've ever been a part of. Dave, Avi, and I fed off of each other's moods, and we were all positively thrumming with energy by the time we were done.

View the rest of David Ng's photos here.