The Lost Performances

In an era of isolation, dance companies seek out new avenues for audience.

by

Visual & Performing Arts

For dance companies, spring usually ushers in a  new season of ideas, growth, long hours, sore feet. Vulnerability and expression, agility and precision. All to culminate in the adrenaline rush of  sharing it—the bright lights, the applause, the team celebrations afterward. In 2020, much of the work Louisiana dancers had prepared for the spring, and now for the fall, went unseen, or seen through screens. Here we hope to celebrate that work, as well as the new work being done every day as dancers and directors navigate this standstill pandemic world. From living room practice studios and audience-less auditoriums, our region’s dancers are still moving, still creating. And constantly searching for new ways to share their art with us. 

New Orleans Ballet Association

Since joining the New Orleans Ballet Association’s Center for Dance Pre-Professional program, dancer Kennedy Simon has been training for upwards of thirty hours a week with some of the world’s most renowned choreographers and teachers. Among her achievements are appearances in Ballet Hispanico’s New York Gala and in NOBA’s fiftieth anniversary gala in January, where she presented a performance of David Parsons’ choreography to the music of Allen Toussaint.

“These are such extraordinarily disciplined young artists. They have such a dedicated approach to their art form and their bodies. Their bodies are their instruments, and they really honor that, even when it’s hard.” —Jenny Hamilton, NOBA

A showcase of her remarkable accomplishments, along with those of other NOBA Center for Dance participants, was planned for May 2020: a Spring Concert featuring works created by New Orleans faculty members and by internationally renowned choreographers including Parsons, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Jae Man Joo, Christopher Huggins, and more. Simon would have performed the “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux” female variation, an  addendum that Tchaikovksy composed for a ballerina unsatisfied with the original choreography of Swan Lake. The later work was forgotten for seventy years until discovered by choreographer George Balanchine, who used it to craft a new ballet altogether. The New York City Ballet describes the work as “an eight-minute display of ballet bravura and technique.” With the cancellation of the Spring Concert, Simon performed the work as part of a video montage for the #NOBAtogether Virtual Spring Showcase on Zoom. In the meantime, her commitment to the consistent practice and study of her art has not wavered, even from virtual lessons confined to the limits of her home or masked intensives at the studio within six-foot blocks. “These are such extraordinarily disciplined young artists,” said Executive Director Jenny Hamilton. “They have such a dedicated approach to their art form and their bodies. Their bodies are their instruments, and they really honor that, even when it’s hard.” 

NOBA is currently offering free virtual dance classes for adults and youth via Zoom—ranging from Senior Dance Fitness to Classical Ballet—as well as virtual on-demand videos available at any time. 

nobadance.com

Of Moving Colors

In a fortuitously ironic twist of fate, Of Moving Colors’ spring season was always intended to be non-traditional. Taking their art to the streets of Baton Rouge, the company’s dancers had planned to honor the Capital City with performances staged in its most iconic locations in an alternative season titled City Bound. “We were so incredibly fortunate the way that worked out,” said Artistic Director Garland Goodwin Wilson. “We were already planning for this to be consumed digitally.” 

Once the city shut down in March, it felt all the more poignant to bring hope and beauty to its empty streets—“It was actually really inspiring for me,” said Wilson. “What was lost though, was the ability to create unified expression. We lost our tactility.” Group performances were off the table and had to be reworked into choreography for solos or duets. “We really felt the isolation of our dancers.” 

Tied into its City Bound projects, Of Moving Colors gave dancers an opportunity to respond to this isolation with their art through the “Movement Interviews,” a series of videos created by dancers in quarantine. The company also launched an educational program called “The IttyBittys,” described as “bite-sized movement sessions” led by dancers all over the world. These free videos offer tutorials in short dance phrases of every genre—many designed to work in small spaces—in addition to classes in things like “Movement to Heal,” stretching, Pilates, posture, and more.  

“What was lost though, was the ability to create unified expression. We lost our tactility.” —Garland Goodwin Wilson, OMC

“There was a lot of fragmentation going on at the height of it,” described Wilson of the challenges of navigating the quarantine. “But at the same time some of that fragmentation was really amazing. There was this balance of feeling isolated and not knowing what to do and having the ability to do things you might not have ever done.” 

While Of Moving Colors was able to move forward with a version of their 2020 season, they did have to cancel their major fundraising event, the “Bloom” Gala, scheduled for March 26. “We were so excited about the theme,” said Wilson. “It was going to be really beautiful and we hope to get a chance to do it again in the future. And it’s certainly been a challenge navigating how to fundraise during a time when many people in the community have lost their jobs and feel displaced. Dance companies all over the world are closing today, they closed yesterday, and they will close tomorrow. The support of the dance industry in a city like this one is so vital. It feels like climbing a mountain without a map, but I feel like we will get there.” 

This fall, Of Moving Colors is moving forward with its Byrde’s Dancers Scholarship Luncheon, which will be held on September 17 at the Old Governor’s Mansion and virtually. All proceeds will go towards funding scholarships for children who might not otherwise have the opportunity to train as dancers.   

ofmovingcolors.org.  

[Read this story on Of Moving Colors' 2016 performance of "You Tell Me" from the archives.]

NOLA Contemporary Ballet

“The idea,” explained Artistic Director Tianna Pourciau Sykes, “was to start a new dance company that would tell the stories of Louisiana through dance.” She originally planned to give the project a few years for development before launching. “Then, we decided—let’s go all in, let’s do this.” 

And so it was settled—the company would kick off its inaugural season in the Fall of 2020 with a mixed rep “Premiere” show featuring excerpts from its repertoire, including: “Ghosts of the Past,” a reflection on South Louisiana’s supernatural mystique; “Suite Orleans,” a multimedia experience synthesizing the Afro-Caribbean and European cultures that inform the heart and soul of New Orleans culture, history, and identity; “Native Swamp,” a multimedia experience exploring the rich and fragile landscapes of our home; and “Requiem,” a nod to Louisiana’s cultural traditions surrounding the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass for the Dead.

We are working from this unique palate of Louisiana culture that is embodied in our being here and in our research, and we are really stoked to share these stories with an audience. Hopefully sooner than later.” —Tiana Pourciau Sykes, NOLA Contemporary Ballet

When the pandemic hit, though, Sykes had to reconsider more than just new practice schedules, cancelled performances, and cancelled funding. She had to strategize a new way to introduce her infant dance company to the world. “People don’t know us yet,” she said. “They don’t know what we stand for. How do we introduce ourselves to the world? Do we do it through an entirely virtual season? Do we try for a dance film? It’s this constant question of how to, as an emerging company, locally connect with our audience when we can’t meet them in person.” 

As of now, NOLA Contemporary Ballet has reset its debut “Premiere” for March 2021. “It’s all very tentative, but we hope to at least be able to present our work virtually by then. We are working from this unique palate of Louisiana culture that is embodied in our being here and in our research, and we are really stoked to share these stories with an audience. Hopefully sooner than later.” 

nolacontemporaryballet.com

[Read more about the effects of COVID-19 on our local performing arts scene in the story: "The Future for Performing Arts in Louisiana" by Lauren Heffker.]

Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre

On May 1, Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre was set to close out their 2019-2020 season with a powerful ode to “strong women real and imagined.” The show, titled She Moves ...  featured a series of performances of new choreography. including Giulia Fedeli Barker’s “The Silent Sentinels”—a contemporary work inspired by the group of women who protested in front of the U.S. capital from 1917-1919 for voting rights—and Emelia Perkins’ “The Lily,” based on the first print publication edited and produced by a woman during the suffrage period of history. Featured alongside these were some old classics, including an excerpt from Adolphe Adam’s Giselle called “The Wilis”. For those unfamiliar with the story—these beautiful, white tutu-ed haunts are “the quintessential female evil spirit from folklore,” according to  Artistic Director Molly Buchmann. Betrayed by their lovers, these spirits enact their revenge by dancing men to death under the darkness of night. Giselle—meeting her own fate as a Wili—possesses a love so pure that she frees her deceitful lover. “And that,” laughed Buchmann, “is where everything goes downhill for women.” 

“The day before we filmed, the fire marshal told us they would have to wear masks throughout the entire production. And in the end, I found something interesting about that. It’s a time stamp on today, but it also renders them faceless—standing in not just for individual women, but all women.” —Molly Buchmann

That the performance couldn’t take place was an enormous disappointment, she said. “You know, I’m seventy years old and growing up, we heard all these stories about the men who changed the world,” she said. “We didn’t hear the stories about the women who made a difference, or even what they went through. We have some wonderful men in our company, but we are predominately women here. We were really thrilled to share these stories with the world.” 

In July, Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre presented “Silent Sentinels,” along with excerpts of other previously planned performances including Jonna Cox’s “Inspirata” and “The Lily”. “It was important to us to get this out,” explained Buchmann. “The day before we filmed, the fire marshal told us they would have to wear masks throughout the entire production. And in the end, I found something interesting about that. It’s a time stamp on today, but it also renders them faceless—standing in not just for individual women, but all women.” 

Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’s virtual summer performance is available for viewing online until September 30 for a fee of $10. In October, the company will release another performance featuring “spookier” repertoire, including “The Wilis”. 

batonrougeballet.org

Basin Arts Dance Collective

After completing their 2019 season with last September’s performance of Sport Suites, Basin Dance Collective was just starting to workshop plans for a performance in Fall of 2020. When the pandemic began, and then lingered, Artistic Director Clare Cook made the difficult decision to release her contracted dancers and to hold off on operations until further notice. “So, right now, it’s just me.” 

“It has been so beautiful to be able to, like, circumstantially really, really focus in on this new role of motherhood, and observing a little person grow, learning where her feet are. So I’m considering that practice, but also in a more global way. I’m now a mother to a daughter, but I’m also a mother to an arts community. How do I relearn how that role changes?" 

But, she emphasized, that doesn’t mean that activity at Basin Dance Collective has ceased. Taking advantage of the newly found space and flexibility of this season, Cook has committed herself to a work of solo artistry, currently being developed as we speak. “It has no title, no formality right now,” she explained. “It’s a commitment to myself and to the process, and I’m hoping that’s enough.” A new mother, Cook explained that she’s been reflecting on the observation of growth and change, particularly with no foreseen end in sight. “It has been so beautiful to be able to, like, circumstantially really, really focus in on this new role of motherhood, and observing a little person grow, learning where her feet are. So I’m considering that practice, but also in a more global way. I’m now a mother to a daughter, but I’m also a mother to an arts community. How do I relearn how that role changes? I’m deeply interested in sitting with that, asking those questions, re-cultivating soil—the soil of your life’s work, the soil of your community. This piece will have threads of motherhood, of community building, disaster response, BLM—all of these things happening right now.” 

[Read this story on Basin Arts beginnings from our April 2018 issue.]

basinartslafayette.com.