Standing-O for Pandemic Dancers
The morning of March 8, 2020, my husband and I drove our camper van to Yosemite National Park, for a low-key mini-vacation. We spent three days "off the grid," walking the hiking trails and appreciating the natural beauty around us.
The evening of March 10, 2020, we returned home to find that the world had changed. An email from my boss said, "Work from home until further notice." An email from my church said, "Choir is cancelled. Services are suspended." The news said, "Stay home for three weeks." And an email from Mt. Diablo Adult Education said, "The Spring quarter is cancelled. We hope to offer classes again in the Fall."
It has now been almost two full years, since all our lives were upturned by the COVID pandemic. We've endured shut-downs, social distancing, separation from loved ones, supply-chain shortages, infections, deaths, exposures, quarantines, repeated testing, remote learning, remote exercising, masking, vaccinating, boosting, confusing regulations and guidance, and wave after wave of increasingly contagious viral variants.
And through all this, in the face of all the difficulties and inconveniences, ballet dancers have soldiered on with dedication, mental toughness, adaptability and perseverance. BRAVO!
I have been so proud of my own ballet community and the worldwide ballet community during this pandemic. Right from the start, when others -- including quite a few big, tough, richly-paid professional athletes -- were whining like babies, ballet dancers across the word just quietly put on their big-girl/boy tights, donned their masks, said "Ok, we've got this!" and moved on with the business of ballet.
Sure, the Zoom ballet classes sucked. Sure, we had to use chairs and kitchen counters for barres. Sure, we had to rearrange our furniture to make space for grand battements. Sure, we had be careful not to kick the cat. Sure, we dug deep for motivation to get off the couch and do those same YouTube follow-along videos week after week.
And when our studios and schools finally opened again, sure we wore those hot, uncomfortable masks that stuck to our face with every deep breath. Sure, we washed our hands until the skin cracked with dryness. Sure, we took the extra time to sanitize the barres and mop the floors. Sure, we stayed within our six-foot tape box, and did our best not to crowd our fellow classmates.
Sure, we did all that. Because we love our art. Because we care for our fellow dancers. Because we don't give up in the face of adversity. Because, as dancers, we take the grace and aplomb that ballet teaches us and apply it to all aspects of our lives.
So here's a (virtual) STANDING OVATION to all the dancers who cooperated and sacrificed to keep things safe, and keep things going in the face of all the COVID craziness.
And here's a (virtual) THANK YOU to all the YouTubers who took time to film and produce such amazing content to get us through those periods of isolation and quarantine. We Like! We Follow!
