This photo series was shot by Remi Riordan and styled by Ava Marzulli for Crybaby Zine. Maiya Blaney, Sydney Miede, and Natalie Marshall are featured as models.

Dancing Queens is a photo story I shot with three girls from my high school.  They were all in my high school’s dance company.  When I shot the story, we are all ending our senior year of high school.  I spent my four years of high school admiring the strength and grace of the girls from the dance company.  After originally shooting the dance company during rehearsal for their end of year show, I wanted to do a stylized shoot of three dancers. I chose girls that I have known since middle school, some even elementary—girls I used to dance with, myself, before scoliosis prevented me from continuing.

Dance was something I loved doing, and it remains something I love watching.  I love ballet and modern and the ways people can move in such a graceful manner.  Dancing Queens is a photo story that is meant to celebrate dance as both an art form and a sport.  It is meant to celebrate the individual dancers in the story as the mature, beautiful dancers they are.  Now that I am unable to dance myself, photographing it has become my way to stay connected to something I used to love so much.

This series is part of an ongoing collaboration with Crybaby Zine. Adolescent is psyched to be able to bring this and other pieces from the pages of Crybaby to our readers. These photos were originally shot and styled for their Fame Issue—if you like it, check out their store to buy this or other issues!