Under Quarantine: How five dancers are carrying on at home - Vancouver Ballet Society
By Jenn Edwards
The coronavirus pandemic has pushed dance into a new era, one marked by a surge in digital content. With massive performance cancellations worldwide, online classes have become one of the few ways that dancers and companies can keep up a standard of training, as well as make ends meet. Five dance artists from around the world share how the pandemic has affected their lives and careers, and how they’re participating in the virtual dance realm.
Brenna Flaherty — The National Ballet of Canada, Toronto
After joining the National Ballet of Canada as an apprentice in 2016, Brenna Flaherty became a member of the corps de ballet in 2018, appearing in repertoire such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
According to Flaherty, the National Ballet has been working to keep a sense of community and normalcy during the pandemic. Internally, they hold company-wide meetings once a week, and for public outreach the social media team has been providing Instagram Live ballet classes hosted by dancers, Q & A sessions and performance clips called #BalletMoments.
“Trying to keep up with training at home has definitely been the hardest part of quarantine life,” says Flaherty. Company classes are provided on weekdays over Zoom, giving dancers a semblance of the rigorous routine they are accustomed to. Additionally, she takes classes from around the world on YouTube, all while holding onto her kitchen counter. For cross-training, she follows Instagram Live workouts from former National Ballet second soloist Rui Huang, now a personal trainer. “She really pushes you to your limit and makes you sweat, but it’s always so much fun.”
Jacqueline Lopez — Oper Graz
A fierce and versatile neoclassical dancer who started her career in Vancouver and Montreal, Jacqueline Lopez has spent the last two seasons with Austria’s Oper Graz, the city of Graz’s state ensemble company. This year marks two milestones for Lopez: At the end of this season she is retiring from full-time dance to pursue a masters in dance pedagogy, and is also getting married. She had hoped to have her family, who are in Vancouver, visit in May to see her final performances and attend her wedding, but those hopes have been dashed because of the pandemic, with no concrete answers on when performances, travel plans and nuptials will be allowed to take place.
After the virus devastated Italy, a shockwave moved quickly through neighbouring countries like Austria. Lopez recalls the first warning signs came from director Beate Vollack’s encouragement to stay home if dancers were feeling even the slightest bit unwell. “In our world, casually taking a sick day is unheard of,” says Lopez. Just days later, on March 13, the dancers were told they had one hour to collect their things and leave the building, with all remaining performances cancelled for the season.
Lopez is keeping her spirits up with yoga and ballet classes provided to company members through Zoom meetings, as well as streaming classes through the Norwegian Ballet’s Facebook page.
Karin Florence Kato — Kirie, Yokohama
After growing up in Yokohama studying classical ballet, Karin Florence Kato trained in contemporary dance with Vancouver’s Modus Operandi and Toronto’s Kaeja D’Dance. Now back in Japan, she is a member of Kirie, a multidisciplinary group infusing contemporary works with ancient Japanese artistic traditions. Alongside dance, the group utilizes calligraphy, beatboxing, fashion, video work and body art to transform theatres and public spaces with their work.
When the pandemic forced the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a large-scale multimedia performance in which Kato was slated to dance, celebrating the life of renowned painter Hokusai Katsushika, also had to be postponed. The Life of Hokusai was to premiere alongside the Olympics and tour internationally afterwards, but is now on hold until at least September.
Kato continues to dance in her home, and especially enjoys taking Gaga classes online. There are currently eight Gaga classes a day being live streamed from Tel Aviv and New York, for both professional and recreational dancers, by optional donation to the Gaga Teachers’ fund.
Pulga Muchochoma — Toronto Dance Theatre
Pulga Muchochoma, formerly a traditional African dancer in Mozambique, where he was born and raised, has been a member of Toronto Dance Theatre for eleven seasons. TDT’s final ensemble work of the season, Alyssa Martin’s quirky Bin Chicken, was intended to be his farewell performance — he is set to transition into more freelance work and teaching. The show’s postponement until October has rendered this milestone disappointingly anticlimactic.
Muchochoma also teaches traditional African dance classes. When COVID-19 shutdowns closed the studio, he moved the classes online, teaching on Instagram Live by donation. He also keeps busy dancing and playing drums with his nine-month-old baby; more time at home allows for more physical and emotional closeness with his family, a silver lining to the pandemic.
After his final contract with TDT is over in October, the future is uncertain, heightening the financial stress many artists are feeling at this time. “I have enough to survive,” chuckles Muchochoma. “It’s crazy, but that’s the reality of being an artist.”
Lonii Garnons-Williams — Australasian Dance Collective, Brisbane
A powerhouse on the contemporary scene, Lonii Garnons-Williams recently joined Australasian Dance Collective (formerly Expressions Dance Company) under the new artistic directorship of Amy Hollingsworth. Before the pandemic postponed all live performance indefinitely, the company had been rehearsing for THREE, a triple bill that would have marked their first performance under the new company name.
The collective has been working hard to transpose their activities to an online platform. They are keeping all dancers on payroll for the time being, and through their new campaign, “Collectively Connected,” are offering online classes with company members for the public. They also continue to take daily company class together via Zoom.
Garnons-Williams remains optimistic about the future of dance in a post-pandemic world. “I believe we are one of the most adaptable industries with endless creative minds. We have already seen monumental changes in the way we interact with technology.”
