As a commercial photographer, Caroline Frye takes a lot of vibrant pictures saturated with color, capturing everything from models walking a runway to musicians jamming on stage. So it’s surprising that the image of Frye’s that will be featured in Starr Foster Dance’s “Spitting Image 2025” production is a somewhat washed out backyard scene dominated by a plain white towel on a clothesline.
But Starr Foster, principal choreographer for the troupe she founded, finds a lot of compelling symbology in Frye’s composition. “The towel hanging on the line is very tidy,” says Foster. “But there’s a lot going on in the background that doesn’t seem very tidy. Pictured against what seems kind of chaotic, a simple object like that has a lot of meaning.”
In “Spitting Image,” Foster takes seven such photos, all submitted by Richmond-area photographers, and uses them as inspiration for wholly original dance pieces. Often, there are backstories related to the scenes depicted that inform her choreography.
“The cool thing about this project is that photographers give me background on their photos,” says Foster. “With Caroline, she told me the picture was taken in North Carolina and that it’s the backyard of an older man who was a woodworker and a widower. I have absolutely incorporated all of that into the dance.”
The photos do more than provide Foster a catalyst to create a dance performance; they also give photographers the opportunity to explore different avenues of expression extending beyond what they create in their professional work.
“This kind of work is a lot more introspective and can be translated into more of a fine art space,” says Frye. “I’ve always been interested in dabbling in fine art but don’t necessarily get to do that in my commercial work.
“Having the opportunity to collaborate with another artist to make something of mine into something bigger makes it just so much more special.”
The generative aspect of “Spitting Image,” the fact that one piece of art spawns another piece of art, also attracted PJ Sykes to the project.
“When you’re an artist, you’re making things and sometimes they matter to people and sometimes they don’t,” Sykes says. “In this case, [my photos] mattered enough that someone wanted to make a dance out of them. That kind of thing is inspirational for other artists.”
In addition to being a photographer, Sykes is a musician, videographer, and the owner of the independent music label, Cherub Records. His contribution to “Spitting Image” is a series of Polaroid-like photos taken with a Fujifilm Instax camera. They show three different views of a sign that used to say “Supplies,” but it has been damaged so only the last four letters remain.
“I like to take pictures of signs or somebody’s homemade art in a public space that’s probably going to get taken down,” Sykes says. “I showed Starr a handful of them and she saw these three Polaroids together and instantly said, ‘That’s what I want. Lies, lies, lies.’”
“The image is very linear and angular,” says Foster. “My work has a tendency to be quirky and flowy. This gave me a chance to do something more rigid and sharp. It was definitely an opportunity for me to go out of my comfort zone.
“It’s also a dance about deceit which seems appropriate in the climate we’re living in.”
Foster also mentions another level of collaboration that she leverages for this production. “The music for that piece is an original composition by Daniel Deckelman,” she says. “It’s very industrial so it matches the photo.”
“Spitting Image” gives Sykes a chance to expose another aspect of his creativity. “There’s a deep irony with this project for me because it’s not what people know me for,” he says. “I’m usually very into the whole idea of archiving things, documenting what shows I played and who I played them with.
These Polaroids are a temporary art form, they’re taken on a kid’s camera and start decaying as soon as I take them. This also gives me an outlet to voice my personal opinion about things that are going on that’s not directly coming from my own voice.”
Starr Foster Dance’s “Spitting Image 2025” will run from April 3 through April 6 at Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W Broad St. Tickets and information are available at https://www.starrfosterdance.org/.
