Lethbridge Portrait & Wedding Photography & Design by Tanya Plonka

Ammena Dance Company’s “An Explosion of World Dance and Music” 2013 will be taking place on Saturday March 2nd at the Yates Memorial Centre in Lethbridge.

Tickets will be on sale on February 5th and seeing as how they sold out within a week last year, make sure you pick yours up early! But don’t go until I get the tickets I need to pick up ;)

With Bollywood and Bhangra being back in a big way this year, our goal was to combine that with more of a burlesque style (another big feature of the show). However, when it came down to poster design, I wasn’t feeling that the Bhangra photos were blending in and just focused on the cute feather showgirl costume that was chosen!

Ammena did her own hair and makeup for the Bhangra photoshoot, and the super talented Jenn joined us the next evening to totally capture the classic showgirl look.

This year’s show is just as diverse as the others, featuring Afro-Cuban, Bollywood, Bhangra, dancehall, jazz, tap, and as usual, bellydance. Sadly I’m not doing a solo this year as I needed to focus on my own wedding planning, but I still found the time to be in four group pieces!

Model, Wardrobe: Ammena Talhami
Makeup Artist and Hair: Jennifer Murray
Concept, photography, design: Tanya Plonka

And hey, what’s that blue stuff?? (more…)

I recently attended the reception for Tracing the Elusive Past of the Chinarians, featuring works from the collection of Lana Gabor, and highly recommend you go check it out at the Helen Christou Gallery! I used to dance with Lana when she lived in Lethbridge, so I was excited to hear she was coming back from Vancouver for her show opening at the University of Lethbridge. She performed one dance piece for the opening, showing off her amazing talent :) (more…)

This year I had the honor of photographing the World AIDS Day event held by the Lethbridge HIV Connection in Galt Gardens. People gathered together to form a human ribbon, illuminated only by candles (such a wonderful idea!). Despite it being a little chilly the turn out was great, and I got to crash the fashion show at the SAAG in my full winter attire, climb through a little trap door, and take the photo from the SAAG’s roof… not your typical Friday night! The wind made the candle-lit ribbon short lived, but it turned out great despite that :) (more…)

This was possibly the best Lethbridge show this year! The Geomatic Attic brought in the super talented Hawksley Workman to Lethbridge this November and due to popular demand, the show was upgraded to Southminster United Church. It was the perfect venue for his stripped down show, which featured him on guitar and Mr. Lonely on piano and no other band members. He told hilarious stories in between songs, and drew out the show and over-sang because of how great the audio was in that space. His performance was stunning and sounded just perfect. He was so expressive that I couldn’t help but take a few photos! (more…)

Lethbridge’s most recent zombie walk was yet again a huge success! This year the weather was gorgeous so there were more summer themed zombies, and as usual the makeup and costumes were so impressive! It’s great that so many adults and children can get together and have such a great time while shuffling along and eating brains :) I love when spectators pull their cars over to watch and participate when all the zombies attack them! (more…)

My last big wedding of the year was Dan and Heather’s celebration with all of their family and friends (some even coming from Europe!). Their ceremony was held in the beautiful St. Basil’s Church, and we followed up with photos before their reception at the Coast Hotel. The reception was tons of fun, and it’s rare to see that many people constantly dancing!

Dan and Heather are such wonderful, down to earth people and were so easy to work with again. They are absolutely joyous together in everything from their smiles and laughter to their body language. Their bridal party clearly shared in their happiness and made it such a warm, loving day :)

Congratulations, Dan and Heather! (more…)