Nora Neidorfler is a senior who has been very passionate about dance throughout her whole life. Due to numerous injuries and health problems, Neidorfler decided to end her dance career after high school and pursue photography instead, She will be attending Depaul University in Chicago with a major in marketing and a minor in photography.
“I really love being able to communicate something visually. I have been a dancer my whole life but multiple injuries and health problems have made me decide to end my dance career after High School. I love the visual power of dance and how much expression you can use in it and I do think that being able to do that similar type of thing through photography has helped me come to terms with leaving the dance community. That is definitely my favorite thing about photography because it shows how much power an image can hold and it is super fun to be able to create that,” Neidorfler said.
Photography still gives Neidorfler that creative freedom to express emotion that dance gave her throughout those hard times in life.
“I am very proud of my AP portfolio this year because it is an expression and commentary of how media and societal pressure affects women and girls. I have been able to do a lot of research based around how unattainable standards set by society are affecting girls and then creating that into a piece of visual art that reflects my thinking. I feel very strongly about this topic as a dancer because we are raised in a world full of unrealistic standards that should be met and the pressure of perfection that is set on us can be a lot to handle. I have watched as the pressure takes people out or down or are pushed to do dance performances with injuries, and I wanted to explore this topic further and open it up to how it impacts everyday life of women and girls,” Neidorfler said.
Neidorfler’s photography not only shows off her artistic talent, but also shows a real and deep meaning behind all her projects. With unrealistic standards for women and girls, Neidorfler can raise awareness and express her feelings about harsh topics all through taking photos.
“Art is a way of expressing yourself and I know through both dance and photography that that is super important to me. I feel like being able to portray something that is meaningful to me in a way that can be seen by others and interpreted in their own perspectives is a super cool thing to experience. The challenge of being able to see the final image in my head and know what I want to create and then actually figure out how to do that has been so fun to experiment with and it is super cool when the vision comes across as I wanted it to,” Neidorfler said.
