by Mollie Rushmeyer
news@thenewsleaders.com
What do dance, national parks and photography all have in common? To Ashley Gonzalez, a Sauk Rapids teen dancer, the correlation spells Dance Across the U.S.A., an awareness and fundraising campaign in which dancers are photographed in the natural beauty of national parks in all 50 states to benefit the National Park Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
When Gonzalez, a 16-year-old junior at St. Cloud Christian School, found out Dance Across the U.S.A. photographer Jonathan Givens was seeking dancers to participate in national park photo shoots, she applied along with 2,800 other dancers across the country. Through online and video tryouts, Gonzalez went from 2,800, to the top 300, to the top 100, and eventually was chosen as a Minnesota representative dancer.
Givens, the photographer and mastermind behind this project, said, “It’s my vision, but it’s the dancers that make it awesome.”
A Fort Lauderdale, Fla. resident, the full-time professional photographer took to the road and plans to drive 16,701 miles by the time his project is complete. He is a 30-year entertainment veteran who used to work on Broadway as a dancer himself. Then he decided to work backstage, even doing stage work and carpentry for the Oprah Winfrey Show. Later he, encouraged by Oprah to do so, decided to start taking photographs, quickly deciding still landscapes weren’t for him and opted to photograph people in movement, such as dancing.
Givens is now on state 37 of 50, driving all by himself cross-country to the lower 48 states and flying to the other two. This is a donation-funded and business-sponsored endeavor to bring awareness, appreciation and fundraising to the national parks and arts programs such as dance, Givens said. He would be remiss, he shared, if he didn’t thank the Nissan automotive company who has paid for all of his gas along the many miles of this journey.
For the Minnesota photo shoot, Givens chose Voyageurs National Park near International Falls and the Canadian border, on an island on the pristine Rainy Lake.
Gonzalez recalls Givens was almost fully submerged for some of the photos. “He would do anything to make sure he got the photo right.”
Ashley’s mom, Stephanie, even remembers at one point, “All we could see was his camera and his hand above the water,” as the photographer had stepped into a hole but managed to save his camera.
Ultimately, the pictures captured not only the natural beauty of the national park but also the movement and passion of the dancers.
Dancing since the age of 2, the Sauk Rapids teen has trained all over the United States as well as the world. In fact, she went on a dance tour for five weeks this summer. In Korea she competed in an International Dance competition as part of her summer tour, taking home a bronze medal for her tap solo. She also dances with a tap ensemble in St. Paul, called Keane Sense of Rhythm, and is in the American Tap company out of Massachusetts, where she travels on a regular basis to train for a competition she will be doing in Germany in December.
Gonzalez enjoyed the opportunity to be more natural with Dance Across the U.S.A., saying, “As a dancer, when you go out on stage, you have to have full makeup and hair done, sometimes in crazy hairdos. Jonathan (Givens) just wanted us to look more natural – hair down, just be myself.”
She also appreciated working with and befriending Givens. As Gonzalez put it, “I think dance brings people together. Jonathan (Givens) brought that out.”
Once Givens has visited all of the states and completed all of the dancer photo shoots, the images will be compiled into a full-color book set for release on Dec. 1. The book can then be purchased wherever books are sold and in many of the national park visitor centers. The first dollar of every book will go back to the National Park Foundation, and the second dollar will fund the National Endowment of the Arts.
“I thought it was thoughtful to bring awareness to dancers and to the national parks. It’s very generous,” Gonzalez said.
For those wishing to give to Dance Across the U.S.A. or learn more, visit the website www.danceatusa.com.
Ashley Gonzalez of Sauk Rapids, one of the chosen dancers to participate in the Dance Across the U.S.A. campaign, poses with the project’s creator and photographer, Jonathan Givens, in front of the van that has brought Givens through 37 of 50 states so far. By its completion, he will have driven over 16,701 miles.
Ashley Gonzalez, a Sauk Rapids teen, does the splits in front of the Rainy Lake Visitors Center sign at Voyageurs National Park where she was photographed as part of a fundraiser for the National Park Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Out of 2,800 dances who applied, Ashley Gonzalez, a long-time dancer, was named among the few to represent the state of Minnesota in a public awareness and fundraising effort for the national parks and arts such as dancing. Here, the Sauk Rapids teen sits on a tree fallen over the water on an island in Voyageurs National Park.
One of the finished photos for Dance Across the U.S.A., Ashley Gonzalez of Sauk Rapids takes a jump at Minnesota’s Voyageurs National Park near International Falls, which will be featured in a book to raise money for the National Park Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts.
Ashley Gonzalez, 16, of Sauk Rapids, jumping during a photo shoot with professional photographer Jonathan Givens for the national parks and arts programs preservation effort called Dance Across the U.S.A., a photographic journey to all 50 states capturing dancers in the natural beauty of national parks
