Dancing through quarantine, Harlem — in a bubble

NEW YORK — Living and breathing dance is par for the course at the Dance Theater of Harlem. It’s just never looked like this.

A group including 15 dancers, a choreographer, the artistic director and a production team has taken up residence at a cultural center in New York’s Hudson Valley, about 100 miles north of New York City.

There, inspired by the example set by the National Basketball Association and entertainment mogul Tyler Perry, they’re in a bubble until the end of the month — a coronavirus quarantine bubble.

They’ve set up shop at the Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in Tivoli, New York. Tested before they left earlier in October, tested while they’re onsite, no one allowed to leave and return, it gives them a chance to rehearse and create in a way that’s been in short supply since the onset of the pandemic, said Anna Glass, the organization’s executive director.

As with many artistic organizations, the pandemic has been difficult for the renowned dance company, founded by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook in 1969.

One bright spot, though, was a project the theater took on for the organizers of the African American Day Parade and Harlem Week, two long-standing events in their neighborhood that couldn’t be held the way they normally were because of quarantine conditions.

Instead, the dance theater created a video showing eight of their dancers in various well-known Harlem spots, including the 145th Street subway station, the City College of New York campus and the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building.