Ballet performers dance around the outbreak in masks
Shanghai Ballet dancers have resumed training for over a week, even though many of their performances have been canceled or postponed.
“Ballet dancers need intensive daily training,” director Xin Lili says.
“They can only practice specific parts at home. The perfect practice session requires a proper rehearsal room, where they can execute each movement as precisely as textbook illustrations.”
Xin says that she used to tell the dancers: “One day without practice, and you will notice the difference; two days without practice, and your coach will notice; three days without practice, and everyone in the audience will notice.”
Some of the dancers were returning to training following their 14-day quarantine as they’d returned from a US tour on Feb 1.
The dancers had their body temperatures taken, washed their hands and wore facemasks before beginning rehearsals. The interiors of the building, from the bars in the rehearsal room to corners of the dressing room, are also sterilized every two hours. The company has also staggered the training hours for different groups of dancers to minimize chances of infection.
“It’s challenging to perform intensive dance moves while wearing masks, and it leaves us slightly breathless,” principal dancer Fan Xiaofeng says.
“But it’s not a big deal compared with what medical professionals go through on the front lines.”
Although some of Shanghai Ballet’s tour and performances for 2020 have been delayed or canceled, the rehearsals are necessary, as the company is preparing to debut a new dance-theater production titled
Fragments of the Memory, says Lu Jiashi, a spokesperson for the company.
Lu adds that the company will stick to its original plan of making further revisions to Bright Red Star, a show about the Chinese revolution, as well as relaunch The Lady of
the Camellias, a production that premiered in 2019.
The Shanghai Ballet, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, is regarded as one of China’s most prominent ballet companies.
The company started out as the performing team of the revolutionary ballet, The White-Haired Girl, which was created in 1966, before taking on the name Shanghai Ballet in 1979. It has since developed an extensive repertoire of Western classics and original Chinese productions.