Meet Ayu Anantha: A Balinese Dancer Who Moves Like Nature Itself
Let me introduce you to someone special. Her name is Ayu Anantha, and she’s a Balinese dancer from Ubud who genuinely stops you in your tracks. She grew up right in the beating heart of Ubud’s art-and-culture scene — and honestly, it shows. Both her parents are artists, so you could say talent runs in the blood. No surprise, then, that she’s become one of Bali’s most talked-about contemporary dancers. She studied dance at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Denpasar, and while her style leans contemporary, she never lets go of her traditional Balinese roots. Here’s the part I love most: her inspiration comes straight from nature. The way creatures react to one another. The way every living thing keeps pushing forward, just to survive. You can actually see all of that in her choreography — and trust me, you’ll spot it in the portraits below.
Amazing, Fresh, and Airy Portraits
A Collaboration Born in a Strange Time
So here’s the story. This shoot was a true collaboration between Ayu and us — dancer meets camera, two artists in the same boat. The goal was simple: build her a knockout dance portfolio. And honestly? Walking away with portraits this good became a quiet little point of pride for us, too. It was also a first for me. I’d never photographed a Bali contemporary dancer before — not once in my whole career. But Ayu and I shared the exact same problem, the same one the entire planet was wrestling with: the pandemic. The Bali wedding industry had basically ground to a halt, because nobody could fly in from overseas. And that’s when the idea hit us. Why sit around at home doing nothing? Why not team up, make something beautiful, and help each other through it? We’re artists — making a difference is sort of the whole point. So we decided to rise, keep creating, and be more than ready for the day things finally swung back to normal.
Emerging Soul: What It Feels Like to Shoot a Dancer
Quick question before we go further. Have you ever watched a dancer up close — really close? Close enough to feel the energy rolling off them, the soul practically spilling into the air? If yes, then you get it. So do I. Most of my sessions are weddings or engagement shoots with lovely, everyday people — doctors, lawyers, folks who’ve never posed for a living. With them, I’m always directing, nudging, coaxing them into the mood and the frame. Shooting an artist like Ayu? Completely different ballgame. Barely any effort needed. I just watched her move and snapped the best of it as it unfolded. The way she sank into each pose, the way she decided her body — it made me fall in love with the whole session. Her energy was strong, almost contagious, and it pulled something deeper out of me, too. By the end, it wasn’t just her soul emerging. Mine was right there with it.
Contemporary Balinese Dance: Old Roots, New Wings
Ayu calls her style “Contemporary Balinese Dance.” So what does that actually mean? The way she explains it, the foundation never strays far from traditional Balinese dance — it’s all still in there. But she stretches it, modernizes it, sets it free. Watch closely and you’ll see it in the small things: the language of her hands, the way she lets her soul lead the movement. What gets me is how she stays anchored to centuries of art and culture, then quietly pushes it forward into something brand new.
Jump Into the Water (and a Little About the Editing)
Just before we wrapped, Ayu turned to me and asked, “Can we get some shots in the water?” I said yes in a heartbeat — because, well, that always sounds like more fun. And it was a first for me: a Balinese dancer performing right there in the seawater. She started off with a simple pose, then slowly found her rhythm with the waves. So I followed her in. The water crept up past my knees, but honestly? I forgot all about it and just kept shooting. Here’s a quick peek behind the curtain for the photography nerds among you:
| What I used | Why it mattered |
|---|---|
| Zeiss Sonnar 55mm lens | Let me get close and intimate with every frame |
| Pushed exposure | Gave the images that soft, dreamy film look |
| Nobel Preset | My go-to for that gorgeous filmic finish |
The one thing that didn’t cooperate? The sun. It hid behind the clouds all morning, which softened the contrast and stole a bit of that filmy punch I was chasing. But you know what? I’m still seriously happy with how these turned out.
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Conclusion: Keep Creating, No Matter What
Sure, maybe we couldn’t shoot as many photos or videos as we’d have liked during the pandemic. But here’s what stuck with me: the most powerful thing we could do was show up for one another. Support a fellow artist. Stay sharp, stay ready, so that when the busy wedding and engagement season finally returned, we’d come back swinging. So if you take one thing from these Balinese dancer portraits, let it be this — keep moving, keep finding your spark, and keep making work that matters. We’ll get through it. We always do. Cheers — wynprmn.
