The dance has inspired writers across the ages to say that it's the only art form that leaves no record behind, just the memory of a fleeting moment. An exhibition currently on view at New York's AIGA gallery punches holes through this idea in a celebration of 20 years of the magazines Dance Ink and 2wice.

The award-winning Dance Ink., founded in 1989 by Patsy Tarr, covered the most innovative dancers - and ideas about dance - through the vision of its publisher, in collaboration with designer/art director, Abbott Miller. A chronicle of the avant garde of its times, including dance, dancers, fashions, music and the downtown art scene in general, it features images by top photographers not necessarily associated with the dance. In 1997, the magazine morphed into its present incarnation, was renamed 2wice, and began collecting more awards.

Photos by Federico Rodriguez-Caldentey, courtesy Pentagram.

The list of photographers commissioned to interpret the work of great dancers and choreographers is a tribute to the height of that art form. And the commissions are a tribute to the ability of great image makers to work beyond the creative vision for which they have become widely known. All in all, the magazine becomes something of a performance piece in print as it reveals the incredible magnetism possessed by notable dancers and choreographers.

Martin Schoeller, known for his hyper-close portraits of celebrities, photographed dancers dancing from a middle distance. One of the most arresting of these portfolios presents choreographer Alexandre Proia performing Nijinsky's L'apres midi d'un faune. Schoeller's photographs reveal this faun as "at once the desired and the desirer, the dressed and the undressed, the instinctive and the contrived, the male and the female," wrote Nancy Dalva in the Animal issue (2003, Vol 7, #1).

Josef Astor, admired for the Surrealistic set designs and props he creates for fashion shoots, brings a dark and brooding quality to his portfolio on Mark Morris. Andrew Eccles, an award-winning editorial photographer with a profound love for the dance, celebrates the heights to which Robert LaFosse, in kilt and jack boots, can ascend from a grand jete. And Joachim Ladefoged, a photojournalist with VII Photo, brings Caravaggio-like chiaroscuro style to his 96-page flip book portrayal of Johan Bokaer. And that's just a few names from a roster that also includes Reuven Afanador, Chris Callis, Marcia Lippman, Martin Parr, and Christian Witkin.

Today's DART pop quiz now asks: How many forms of dance can you mention in 30 seconds? If you get bogged down after five or so, here are some more that are featured in the exhibition: Show Dancing (Fred Astaire, for example), Butoh, Modern Dance (with Merce Cunningham most prominently featured), Club Dancing, Flamenco, Synchronized Dancing (with the Supremes), Dance Marathon (as photographed by Weegee in the 1940s), Vaudeville, Water Ballet, Social Dancing (as explored by Martin Parr), and Classical Ballet,

Everybody Dance Now: 20 Years of Dancing in Print, continues at the American Institute of Graphic Arts National Design Center through May 15. The exhibition was designed by Abbott Miller of Pentagram.

On May 7, Jonah Bokaer and Chez Bushwick will be hosting a gala benefit in the gallery to honor Patsy Tarr, Abbott Miller and 2wice Editions. Please visit the website for information and tickets.

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