Dancers in the Window: How “Rehearsal, Noon” Was Made

The photograph that opens No. 8 was an accident of scheduling. The company rehearsed in a second-floor studio with a west window, and at noon the barre work turned the whole room into a silhouette.

We shot four rolls handheld, available light only. The plate selected for the issue — and for the open print edition — is the third exposure of the second roll, when the choreographer paused and no one noticed the camera.