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A monochromatic photograph of a person's legs in a dynamic pose, diagonally divided. The upper left shows the legs against a dark background, while the lower right shows them against a lighter, textured floor.

Born in Baltimore and raised in nearby Relay, Sara VanDerBeek has long maintained a deep connection to the city and its artistic communities. Created through collaborations with dance students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore Dancers reflects on movement, memory, and artistic practice. Rather than documenting performance, VanDerBeek isolated gestures and fragments of the body, using dramatic contrasts of light and shadow to transform dancers into sculptural forms that hover between representation and abstraction. Graceful poses and suspended moments emphasize rhythm, balance, and the body’s passage through space while inviting close attention to line, texture, and composition. The series also carries a personal resonance: the photographs were made at UMBC, where her father, experimental filmmaker Stan VanDerBeek, taught for nearly a decade. Rooted in Baltimore, these photographs and installations reveal an enduring interest in photography’s ability to translate fleeting movement into lasting images.

A monochromatic photograph of a person's legs in a dynamic pose, diagonally divided. The upper left shows the legs against a dark background, while the lower right shows them against a lighter, textured floor.
Sara VanDerBeek, Orpheus, From the series Baltimore Dancers, 2015, Two Digital C-prints Mounted on Aluminum, 16 x 12.5 inches
Three dancers in a dark setting, illuminated by dramatic lighting. One dancer is bent forward, arms wrapped around their ankles, with light highlighting their back. Another dancer's legs are brightly lit on the left, while a third dancer's dark silhouette is visible on the right.
Sara VanDerBeek, Baltimore Dancers Three, From the series Baltimore Dancers, 2012, Digital C-Print Mounted on Aluminium, 12 x 16 inches, BMA 2024.312
A white gallery with a wooden floor features five tall, white, rectangular sculptures. On the left, one sculpture has vertical slats, while the others have open compartments, one with triangular divisions. A dark rectangular artwork with a white line hangs on the back wall.
Sara VanDerBeek, Baltimore Dancers, Exhibition View, The Approach London, 2012
A black-and-white photograph shows a dancer in a dark leotard performing a handstand-like pose. One leg extends straight up, while the other extends straight down to the floor, and both hands are on the floor. The background is solid black.
Sara VanDerBeek, Baltimore Dancers One, From the series Baltimore Dancers, 2012, Digital C-Print Mounted on Aluminum, 16 x 12 inches
A white, angular sculpture on a tall white pedestal stands in the corner of a gallery with white walls and a wooden floor. Two framed artworks hang on the adjacent walls.
Sara VanDerBeek, Front Room: Sarah VanDerBeek, Exhibition View, 2015
A white frame contains two overlapping images. On the left is a black and white photo of a person's lower body wearing a black bikini. On the right, a purplish-blue image with organic vertical lines overlaps the first.
Sara VanDerBeek, Baltimore Dancers, Variations I, 2026 Digital C-print Mounted on Aluminum and UV Print on Mirror, 18 x 14 inches