Douglas Despres

Photographer

www.douglasdespresphoto.com/

BTS / Behind The Scenes

Follow Hire

Young dancers of the Alameda Ci...rom the San Francisco Bay area.

Young dancers of the Alameda Civic Ballet prepare in the dressing room for a performance in the Kofman Theatre as part of "United We Dance," an event that ACB hosted to bring ten troupes together from the San Francisco Bay area.

A young dancer from the Alameda...s, backstage at Kofman Theatre.

A young dancer from the Alameda Civic Ballet passes an older dancer from the Barbary Coast Cloggers, backstage at Kofman Theatre.

Abra Rudisil, Creative Director...Theatre in Alameda, California.

Abra Rudisil, Creative Director of the Alameda Civic Ballet and retired Principal ballerina of the Oakland Ballet, instructs students at the dress rehearsal of "United We Dance," at the Kofman Theatre in Alameda, California.

Journalist Sara LaFleur-Vetter ... in a productive way."

Journalist Sara LaFleur-Vetter sits exhausted outside her hotel room awaiting a new door key at the Prairie Nights Casino in Fort Yates, North Dakota after a long day covering the indigenous led fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016.

SLV is Director and Director of Photography of the feature documentary film "The Sacred and The Snake," alongside team members Jonathan Klett, Romin Lee Johnson, Tracy Rector, Jean Kawahara and Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel. Their own words are below.

"The Sacred & The Snake focuses on how the experience of collective trauma, cultural self-discovery, and non-violent direct action catalyzed an array of other resistance movements across the country. While much of the public accepts the media narrative that Standing Rock was a failure, these protagonists defiantly show otherwise. The resistance camps lit a fire in each one of them and set them on a new path, while reawakening a global awareness of the environment and Indigenous sovereignty.

We are a collaborative filmmaking team - a group of non-Native filmmakers working alongside a prolific group of Indigenous producers and advisors that are holding us accountable as we embark on this process. We are committed to working within the #decolonizedocs movement and guidelines. Everyday we learn more about how we can humble ourselves in this process, amplify Indigenous voices to guide the project, and redistribute our privilege and power in a productive way."

Celebrated Cambodian Dancer Cha...ard for Individual Performance.

Celebrated Cambodian Dancer Charya Burt in the dressing room. Her sister spends two hours hand sewing her costume on before every one of her performances.

As a member of Cambodia’s Royal Dance Troupe, Charya toured nationally and internationally. After emigrating in 1993, Charya has been performing throughout the United States, including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the San Francisco Opera House and countless times as a featured dancer at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. Her original works have been presented by the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, World Arts West, CounterPULSE, UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco Asian Art Museum, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and many others. Charya holds a B.A., Cum Laude, from Sonoma State University and has conducted dance workshops at schools and colleges around the country. Charya is also a recipient of the Isadora Duncan Award for Individual Performance.

Celebrated dancer Charya Burt m...ard for Individual Performance.

Celebrated dancer Charya Burt meditates in the dressing room, shortly before a performance at Koffman Auditorium in Alameda CA.

As a member of Cambodia’s Royal Dance Troupe, Charya toured nationally and internationally. After emigrating in 1993, Charya has been performing throughout the United States, including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the San Francisco Opera House and countless times as a featured dancer at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. Her original works have been presented by the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, World Arts West, CounterPULSE, UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco Asian Art Museum, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and many others. Charya holds a B.A., Cum Laude, from Sonoma State University and has conducted dance workshops at schools and colleges around the country. Charya is also a recipient of the Isadora Duncan Award for Individual Performance.

BTS image during a promo photos..., Aya Hoja, and Natalie Cutler.

BTS image during a promo photoshoot for The Vagina Monologues Alameda. Seen here from left to right are Germaine Gaudet, Aya Hoja, and Natalie Cutler.

Director Christopher Chase give...constantly throughout the show.

Director Christopher Chase gives immediate post-performance feedback to the cast of "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," in San Francisco's Bindlestiff Studio, days before the production run began. The Broadway birthed musical comedy features a limited cast of five, that play multiple characters throughout the show, with breakneck speed wardrobe and set changes happening between scenes constantly throughout the show.

Tia Renée Konsur, on...udience members after the show.

Tia Renée Konsur, one of five talented cast members of "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," a musical comedy presented at Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco and directed by Christopher Chase, meets with audience members after the show.

Actor Katherine Park performs i...ates by the Smithsonian Museum.

Actor Katherine Park performs in a sound booth alongside actor Raymond Ma in Studio City, Los Angeles, as voice-over artists for the animated short film "Up In The Clouds" written and directed by Ed Moy. The film focuses on the iconic first Asian American Woman to earn her pilots license in the United States, a trail blazer named Katherine Cheung. She is listed as the first Asian Aviatrix in the United States by the Smithsonian Museum.

Ed Moy, writer and director of ...Ma in Studio City, Los Angeles.

Ed Moy, writer and director of "Up In The Clouds," listens outside a sound booth to actors Katherine Park and Raymond Ma in Studio City, Los Angeles.

PLAY

STOP

GRID

FULL

LOVE

Public Project

BTS / Behind The Scenes

Copyright Douglas Despres 2024

Updated Dec 2021

Location United States

Topics Arts, Black and White, Documentary, Film Stills, Photography, Photojournalism

BEHIND THE SCENES.

A collection of behind the scenes / BTS photographs throughout the years. The results of working alongside actors, musicians, dancers, directors and other artists. The in between times. A lifelong interest and interaction of creators and the worlds they conjure and live in.

Douglas Despres / Pinar del Rio, Cuba

Sep 30, 2020

Sign-up for
For more access