STUDIO TO STAGE
Reflections
The role of the dance artist during COVID-19
Dance Ontario Julie McLachlan, membership coordinator
Dance artists are playing a major role in helping people navigate through this lonely, confusing and chaotic time. Whether it’s to forget, be entertained or feel part of a community, people are finding comfort in dance. Virtual dance classes allow people to connect to their bodies and offer structure to their day. Online performances give audiences a chance to leave their reality and escape into an artist’s world. We are relying on artists now more than ever.
Dance Manitoba Wendy J. Bobby, executive director
Dance and the arts in general are often in the background of greater daily happenings. Interestingly, dance has brought a positive uplift during COVID-19, whether it’s people dancing it up for fun on social media to spread positivity or dance organizations finding ways to continue virtual classes and share educational opportunities. Dance has been shown to be a way to connect to each other and move forward in an uplifting manner for mental and emotional betterment. There are no social, economic or geographical boundaries for dance. Dance is a way for us all to be in this together while bringing fun, laughter and joy. Without a doubt, dance artists and teachers have definitely had a role and an impact on bringing a positive light.
Regroupement québecois de la danse Jamie Wright, co-president
There is something very touching and profound, I find, in the quietness and stillness of our dancing bodies. This is giving the stage to health workers, grocery delivery people, daycare workers, the fragile and the elderly. We need them to be cared for, to be well treated. But just because our bodies are still, it does not mean that the creativity has stopped, that ideas are not flowing. As stressful and destabilizing as the current situation is, it’s a time for us to take the time. What is art if not a resistance to standards and norms? This stoppage could also be a chance to counter the neo-liberal push to constantly be creating bigger and better content. Let’s take this unprecedented moment in history to dig deeper into our own existences in order to ask ourselves what dancing, in its stark absence, really means to us. Like the ghost lights that are holding vigil on empty stages all over the world, dance artists are holding vigil on the human condition.
Dance NL Corie Kean, executive director
In a time of rapid and potentially overwhelming change, the dance artist reminds us to return to the core value of movement as a way to navigate uncertainty. Witnessing their unwavering commitment to this value, we too are inspired to stay connected with our bodies, with the present moment and – by extension – with one another.