Jordan Ellis

I danced for twelve years before I ever stood on a set - ballet first, then a Brooklyn street team that taught me more about presence than any studio ever did. A casting director saw me freestyle at a block party in Bed-Stuy and asked if I'd ever been photographed. The honest answer was 'constantly, by my friends.' The professional answer arrived about a week later.

Movement is still the core of what I sell. Brands book me when clothes need to look alive - a fur coat worn like armour, striped trousers mid-stride, a suit by the sea with a storm coming in. I hit poses the way dancers hit counts: on time, with intention, and never quite the same way twice. Big colour doesn't scare me. Neither does a long lens or a short call sheet.

Off the clock I teach a Saturday dance class for kids in my old neighbourhood, collect vintage sunglasses I have absolutely no more shelf space for, and hunt down every rooftop in New York with a skyline worth the stairs. The work has taken me from Bushwick to the Mediterranean. The walk is still pure Brooklyn.