Vignesh Melwani

“It was late one Sunday and I wanted to shoot the photographs in a supermarket car park: a wide-open space with a warm winter light. We were limbering up for a while and when Vignesh decided to start dancing he wanted to be accompanied by the song Les Ondes Orientales, by Dhafer Youssef. Before we began, he had told me that the track lasted fourteen minutes and if it was OK with me, he would dance during the whole song uninterrupted. Vignesh doesn't dance for dancing’s sake, he has to feel it. Those fourteen minutes were a gift. The camera usually creates a distance between the subject and the photographer, but it is a strange kind of distance that simply helps you connect with reality in a different way. However, in this case, the camera disappeared, so much so that I ended up taking photos with tears in my eyes. After that, Vignesh did not feel the need to continue dancing and I understood perfectly well; he had given his all during that quarter of an hour. At that point I did not know if the photographs had managed to capture the emotion of the moment, nor if I had enough material, but I was not concerned. We ended up sitting in the car with the doors open, breathing deeply and trying to take in what had just happened.” Maria Alzamora