Ken Browar and Deborah Ory

Ken Browar and Deborah Ory (American)

The NYC Dance Project is composed of Brooklyn based couple Ken Browar and Deborah Ory. Independently, and prior to forming the NYC Dance Project, Ken Browar and Deborah Ory were both successful professional photographers, with Deborah also being a dancer. Together, they are an indomitable force in the photography and dance community and have produced some of the most beautiful pictures of dancers that have ever been conceived. Their work draws attention to the dedication and skill required to perform movements of such great difficulty, and their expertise behind the lens provides intimate knowledge of how to capture brief and breathtaking moments. Ken and Deborah work as a team preparing every detail of a shoot from lighting to costumes, and treat each shoot as a full dance production. It contributes to the feeling of authenticity felt in each piece as a dancer is frozen at the apex of a jump. Their vision is to contrast dramatic lighting with simplified backgrounds and focus the viewer directly on the subject so the grace and beauty of movement can be emphasized and fully appreciated. They use art created fashion in their work: marrying fashion, dance, and portraiture.

NYC Dance Project has been featured in many magazines, including in Harper’s Bazaar, Italian Vogue and Dior Magazine. Their work has been featured internationally in press such as CNN, The NY Times,The Guardian, The London Times, The Washington Post, and many others. Ken and Deborah’s photography book on dance, The Art of Movement, was published in 2016, and a sequel focussed on the intersection of fashion and dance, The Style of Movement: Fashion and Dance, was published in 2019.  Both books have won International Photography Awards and have been bestsellers on Amazon and other online bookstores.

Photography & Works