ANY GIVEN SATURDAY: THE ART OF BECOMING

Words and photographs by Jason Bakari Page

My daughter has been part of AREA Atlanta since she was three. For years, I watched her performances and saw the results of her training. Much of the work that made those performances possible happened beyond my view.

I began spending time inside the studio on Saturdays because I wanted to understand that part of her life. The residency became known internally as The Process, a name connected to the emphasis on process within AREA’s curriculum. Each return gave me a fuller understanding of what that meant.

As my attention widened beyond my daughter, I began to see a community of girls growing alongside one another, supported and challenged by their instructors.

The room carried its own character. Braids, beads, carefully gathered buns, and natural hair were part of its visual language. So were the attitudes and expressions: composure, curiosity, confidence, and sass. These details held my attention because they belonged to the girls themselves. Their individuality remained visible within the shared expectations of class.

I watched dancers repeat exercises, receive corrections, and attempt a movement again. Over time, I became more attentive to what happened around those repetitions: how they listened, how they responded, and how they carried themselves through the work.

The instructors’ presence extended beyond technical instruction. I came to recognize a maternal quality in the way care and high expectations lived together. From my position as a father, I saw women helping girls develop assurance while asking them to take themselves and their commitments seriously.

"CARE AND HIGH EXPECTATIONS LIVED TOGETHER.”

That care came with accountability. The instructors attempted to instill a sense of personal responsibility, asking the girls to own their decisions and understand their consequences. A poor choice was theirs to answer for, rather than necessarily a reflection of their family or upbringing. I understood that expectation as an acknowledgment of their growing agency. They could make choices, recognize mistakes, and decide what to do next.

There was room for personality within that seriousness. A dancer could approach an exercise with concentration, then turn toward my camera with an entirely different expression. Those acknowledgments became part of the photographs, too. They reflected the familiarity that developed as I kept returning. Being given access carried a responsibility to represent the room honestly. I worked within the rhythm of the sessions, responding to what was happening. Over time, the camera became a familiar presence.

• 

• 

Week after week, I could see sisterhood taking shape. It was visible in shared laughter, physical closeness, and the ease of being together between exercises. My observation also extended into preparation for performance, where that familiarity remained present beneath the costumes. These relationships became central to my understanding of the work. The girls were practicing dance while learning to occupy space among others, take responsibility, and grow into young women.

"WEEK AFTER WEEK, I COULD SEE SISTERHOOD TAKING SHAPE."

• 

• 

Black and white helped me concentrate on light, form, gesture, and expression. It gave photographs made across different sessions a shared visual language while preserving the details that made each person distinct.

No single moment made me decide this needed to become a book. That understanding came through accumulation. Each Saturday added something to what I had witnessed before.

Any Given Saturday: The Art of Becoming gathers those observations into a photographic record of AREA’s training community.

As a parent, I had watched my daughter step onto a stage. Inside the studio, I began to understand more of what she brought with her to that stage: practice, confidence, responsibility, and relationships. The photographs hold something of that larger experience, and of the girls growing into themselves together.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project has grown through the trust and access extended by AREA founder and owner Jai McClendon Carpenter. Her partnership has allowed me to return consistently and document the community with care.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS © JASON BAKARI PAGE / J. BAKARI CREATIVE

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Jason Bakari Page is an Atlanta-based photographer and founder of J. Bakari Creative. His work explores portraiture, culture, and the quiet discipline behind artistic mastery.

Through long-term documentary projects, Page focuses on communities shaped by dedication to craft. Any Given Saturday: The Art of Becoming is the first volume in an ongoing photographic archive documenting dance culture and youth artistry in Atlanta.

His work centers on the unseen moments of practice that shape performance.

Explore the project and book at jbakaricreative.com. A limited number of copies are available for purchase at ARTE NOIR.