Ballet Portraits: Rocky-Jay Bowyer

In January, I had the opportunity to shoot some ballet portraits with dancer, Rocky-Jay Bowyer. When I asked about his career as a dancer, he replied, "I have only just started." Rocky attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree and spent 8 to 10 hours a day dancing in addition to classes and lectures. After graduation, he moved to Nashville, where he currently dances with the Nashville ballet in their second company.

"There is a ton of work that goes into being a dancer," says Rocky. "As you get older and become more involved in the craft, everything becomes second nature." He explains that there are a lot of habits that come with the trade. One of his dance teachers once told him that in order to be successful at dance, "you have to be psycho about it," and Rocky agrees with this statement. Just like with any field of study, dance involves doing your homework. "You have to go home, stretch, research different styles, cross train, eat healthy, have healthy sleeping habits and much more," says Rocky. He says that it's about putting in the extra time and effort to make it to the next level.

In Rocky's experience, cross training has been the most important key to becoming a professional dancer. "Our body is our career, and without it, we can't further our craft or even practice the craft at all, " he explains. Rocky also acknowledged the importance of taking care of your mind and maintaining your sanity. "As a dancer, it's easy to get wrapped up in your own thoughts so much that you lose sight of a lot of things," he says. He relates it to studying for an exam. "If you study straight through and don't take any breaks, then your mind gets on overload. So you have to also find something else to take your mind off of dance and let your brain rest for a bit, or else you go into information overload and that's when you can hurt yourself or hurt someone else, which is something no dancer wants to do."

Take a look at these shots of Rocky, doing what he loves...

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