Connecticut schools keep arts programs going despite COVID
Zoom plays. Outdoor band classes. Virtual dance rehearsals.
COVID-19 is making high school arts programs look a little different this year, but across the state, students and educators are working hard to make sure the show can go on.
Take Daniel Hand High School in Madison and its award-winning show choir, VIBE.
In Madison’s hybrid model, students are divided into cohorts, so that half attend Monday and Tuesday, the other half Thursday and Friday.
Since members of VIBE have a class dedicated to rehearsals, some students rehearse in person, while other rehearse over live video, according to Ronald Soja, who directs the program.
“It’s definitely a challenge,” he said. Because of a streaming lag, each cohort has separate dance captains leading the rehearsal – one captain leads the in-person rehearsal, and another leads the virtual rehearsal, Soja said.
Soja watches both groups as they rehearse, he said.
The entire group also practices on a turf field Tuesday evenings, according to Soja, who added that next month, VIBE will hold an intensive rehearsal weekend where they spend 22 hours practicing outside — even if the weather is cold.
In Norwalk, Dr. Jennifer Capona, who oversees the school district’s visual and performing arts programs, said adjustments have been made so that students can continue to receive an arts education.
General music classes, such as choir, have shifted to COVID-safe activities, such as songwriting and drumming, according to Capona.
That doesn’t mean there’s no room for singing — this year, the students sing in their own homes and record themselves, Capona said.
“In some cases, they’ll bring that recording [to school],” or they’ll edit it and use it for sound mixing projects, she said.
The high school theater program is trying something new this year, too: in November, it will put on two “virtual” plays, written exclusively for Zoom, according to Capona.
The districts’ two marching bands also are out on the field, albeit with some changes.
“Even without the football games, the families and the students couldn’t wait to get back out on the field,” Capona said.
The bands have adjusted their choreography so that students are always six feet apart, which means the show loses some of the intricate walking patterns, Capona said.
But the bands still compete by filming their shows and submitting video to USBands, according to Capona.
Of the changes this year, Capona said, “everybody knows that we’re doing this for safety first…everyone has just adapted really nicely.”
“It’s not easy but everyone’s doing a good job,” she continued.
Capona is grateful to the teachers for taking on the challenge of implementing arts programs during a pandemic, she said.
“There’s never been a question of whether we’re keeping the arts…it’s just been a matter of how.”
In Danbury, where the high school is closed, the theater program is facing its fair share of obstacles.
But theater director Michael Burnett and his students have been soldiering on.
Theater classes are up and running, if virtually.
Students use an app to record monologues, which are then reviewed by classmates, Burnett said.
In some cases, students perform scenes by recording two-person calls, according to Burnett.
“It is not ideal in any means,” he said, but it gives them the feel of acting with another person.
Overall, the return to class has gone “surprisingly well,” he said.
“I’m really impressed with [the students’] willingness to make this successful,” Burnett said.
As for school shows, those are up-in-the-air.
The high school typically does a big school musical as well as a school play each spring, Burnett said.
While it doesn’t look like the musical will be feasible, his acting class is looking at ways to make the play possible, either by live-streaming it or performing via Zoom, according to Burnett.
In Torrington, theater director Veronica Gelormino is also thinking about performances. She hopes the shows at the middle school and high school can go on this year, she said.
Gelormino is currently reviewing COVID-19 guidelines and putting together a proposal for how to do those shows safely, she said.
“Everything’s COVID-dependent, but bottom-line even if we can’t do a show, the kids have to get together and rehearse,” she said, adding that acting is like athletics – when kids don’t rehearse, they get rusty.
While a show would bring a lot of challenges, Gelormino doesn’t want to give up yet.
“You can’t do that to the kids,” she said. “Some of the students really live for the theater program.”
“In the spring I am praying that we can do our musical at the high school,” she continued.
This year, that musical would be particularly special: Gelormino hopes to present an original show, written by two college students, she said.
“It would be a really wonderful project,” she said. “It would be the first time this musical would be presented.”
Back in Madison, Soja said that, while it’s been a challenge, he’s grateful to be doing it at all – many show choir programs aren’t running this year.
“That’s the thing,” Soja said. “I can’t complain.”
Jack White, a senior at Hand and VIBE dance captain, said of his experience as a student, “Half of us are at home trying to dance and sing on our computers, and half of us are at school.”
“It’s been extremely difficult, especially as a dance captain,” White said.
Still, he continued, “we have a show, and we’re very proud of our show this year.”
There’s also a lot of uncertainty surrounding how competitions and performances will work.
While he hopes they will be able to attend in-person competitions, Soja said, it’s possible they will end up live-streaming their performances instead.
Last year, VIBE’s season was abruptly canceled as COVID-19 hit, according to White.
He knows it could happen again. “Every single rehearsal we act like it’s our last, because it very well could be,” he said.