{"id":6736,"date":"2020-05-06T19:39:12","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T23:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/?p=6736"},"modified":"2020-05-07T09:43:52","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T13:43:52","slug":"viewing-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/2020\/05\/viewing-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Viewing from Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Performing in tight spaces. Daimy McInroe in an image drawn from the Hartt School students’ Hartt from Home<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even during a pandemic, I doubt that a pianist would send out a video link that encouraged us to watch him\/her practice at home while wearing, say, a bathrobe. Would a soprano work on perfecting an aria from a fire escape? (I could, of course, be wrong.) Recently dance companies of all kinds and sizes have been posting links to works past and present. Immured out of the city, I could gorge on them\u2014some at specific times, others whenever I like. The offerings may be free or the ensemble is in need of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I receive not only these gifts; something more homegrown appears in my inbox to remind me that a dancer\u2019s instrument is her\/his body. It needs a daily workout that may or may not reach the level of a sequence that in a classroom would involve traveling across the floor. Fortunately, stitching complexities in place is also part of a warm-up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has interested me right now, often touched me, and sometimes made me laugh are online videos in which dancers, sequestered in their homes (or near them), keep in shape. Perhaps a choreographer has taught part of a sequence to every member of a group, so that each new solitary soloist begins with the previous soloist\u2019s final pose. Or the short film may simply be an anthology of clever steps. Their charm lies in how the game, witty, and dedicated performers interact with their locations. When did you last see a crackerjack dancer pirouetting in a deserted city street? When did you watch one toss off a high kick between her refrigerator and her stove?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A masked dancer in J Chen Project performing Jessica Chen’s Dancing from a Distance<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Faculty member Tim Melady of the Hartt School masked and at work<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For me, as perhaps for other viewers, how dancers live today is almost as intriguing as what they\u2019re doing at any given moment to keep in shape. Some may have pushed their apartment\u2019s furniture out of the way, while others may have a designated practice space. Carpets are rarely in evidence, just a few square feet of hardwood flooring or another smooth surface. The apartments may be spacious or so cramped that negotiations both daring and imaginative are involved in order for the dancer to avoid knocking a picture off the wall or kicking a chair. Behind one performer, your eye catches a reproduction of the Mona Lisa looking on from behind a bunch of other stuff. Someone\u2019s shelves contain tiny ornaments that evade detection. Are those file cabinets piled up under the window? Is that laundry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lindsay Hall, a member of J Chen Project performing Jessica Chen’s Dancing from a Distance<\/em> amid tropical foliage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In cities all over the world, determined dancers also work in outdoor spaces: a concrete roof overlooking the city, a deserted street, a park, and more. Sometimes very small children skedaddle past or copy the dancer\/mother diligently. Dogs appear. A dancer\u2019s graceful arm movements may yield to more important business: she can hold a cat in her arms, out of the way of her busy feet. And you have to honor also the friend, husband, wife, parent, roommate, or lover who wields the camera or, more likely, the cell phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is this: these gifted people can\u2019t not<\/em> dance. Their instrument, the body, must be fed carefully, kept limber, kept strong. They must also sustain their minds and stay as happy as possible in this temporary \u201cretirement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maneuvering through the tricky landscape of videoland is often beyond me, but I’ve included two of the items I\u2019ve watched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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