value of dance through this experience. Q: How can DCNT help support you? You already are helping by sharing people’s online classes and performances. Any guidance and help, as dancers navigate things like unemployment and financial aid, would be really helpful. Lastly, as mentioned above some kind of support to dancer’s mental health at this time is so important. Q: How you are coping during the pandemic? I honestly haven’t had time to process this, and I am probably coping through working as hard as I can to keep my dance program growing and support my students. I will probably need to take some time to reflect when the semester ends, in order to process this all. I am finding online classes with new teachers keeps my mind engaged in what I love about this field. Yoga is definitely helping me sleep! And I’m exploring interests that I might have and how I want to continue to evolve as a dance artist and educator. Q: Are you continuing to provide classes for students? My biggest focus is meeting my students where they are and trying to provide the important gifts dance has to offer. So far I am sticking with Zoom technique classes that are a little shorter and about just getting moving and expressing, rather than focusing on technical growth. I am allowing my students extra grace to participate as they can, as so many have challenges in living situations, either spatially or through Internet difficulties. To that end, I am creating some online content in short classes that they can do in their own time, with simple reflections on their movement experiences. My choreography class is actually the most fun at this time, and the students are creating really interesting material and giving each other such supportive and thoughtful feedback. As a small program, the dancers are pretty close, and they all have said that this time has made them realize how much they value each other, which is completely inspiring and beautiful. Young people are amazing. Q: How do you see yourself coming out of this situation? I am not sure, as so much is unknown. This time is sharpening me as an educator, but our field is going to evolve. It’s a little scary, but I think that this is pushing us all to change in some ways that need to happen, even as we struggle with so many financial realities. I know that I am more aware of so many inequities in our society and I hope this will inform my work as an educator and artist. It is also a reminder of the value of dance, as so many people have turned to dance through this time. I see myself pursuing some new interests in my educational research, and I also hope that I search deeper as a choreographer and performer. So much dance has helped me understand myself and made me feel less alone at this time, and I want to create work that will do the same for others.


n Margo Dean School of Ballet’s Director, Webster Dean: We have moved our entire schedule to virtual classes streamed in to students’ homes, from age three through adults, and it’s been going great. Q: How you are coping during the pandemic? Webster: Thankfully we have successfully moved our classes online which everyone has been happy about. This keeps everyone’s momentum going and interest up as well as maintaining everyone’s dance skills as best as possible during a time when they would otherwise have nothing at all. Also the students, all of whom are sheltered in place in their homes, are happy to maintain their interaction with their teachers as well as with each other virtually. We have maintained close to 100% participation from our existing students and have even gotten some new students as well as some former students who have returned and others who don’t live locally who are able to participate with the live


streaming process. Q: Are continuing to provide classes for students? Via zoom streamed into their homes.


technology that is available to us. We’ve recently been commissioned to develop a new piece during this quarantine period which is exciting for us. As a photographer, I’m at a loss. I’m a photographer solely working in the performing arts and with everything shut down indefinitely, it’s honestly like starting into an abyss. I am hopeful that we start to see things open in some capacity in the fall but I’m not sure where we will be and what that will look like.


fixed.


I do think that more information


from arts organizations


could be shared into what’s available for financial assistance and mental health assistance during this time period. I worry a lot about where people are from a mental standpoint during all of this. Q: How can DCNT help support you? I


think that health assistance.


Council can be a great hub for the resources I mentioned before, including financial assistance and mental


the Dance I


Margo Dean School of Ballet instructor Q: How do you see yourself coming out of this situation? I believe that by continuing to provide classes to our students, their interest and enthusiasm will have been maintained and that everyone will be excited to return to face to face classes at the studio per usual. For more information about Margo Dean School of Ballet visit margodeanballet.com. Follow us on Facebook: @MargoDeanBallet and Instagram: @margodeanschoolofallet.


n Artists like the Transitory Sound & Movement Collective (TSMC) are creating works that address our Collective Isolation. Lynn Lane (Founder, Artistic Director and Sound Artist) and Jennifer Mabus (Founding member, Movement Director/Choreographer) gather through Zoom for their rehearsals. (*picture/link below right) “Our new piece in the Transitory Sound and Movement Collective “Collective Isolation” series that we created during this Covid-19 quarantine/stay- at-home period is LIVE. This work is a spontaneous live composition, where we are accepting and embracing the limitations of the current technology available to us, glitches, audio dropouts, clipping, internet connections, inability to mix audio, and all. It’s part of the chance process when making this work in isolation. When the pandemic quarantine lifts, we will come together in some iteration of this work and perform the final piece in the series live as a way to find closure and an acknowledgment of our new reality. In this piece, we had artists participating from Texas, Miami and Chicago.” Lynn Lane has been having weekly Zoom meetings with artists from around the world called Arts Chat & Tacos. Artists bring up topics ranging from virtual performances and galleries online to the need of financial support. Arts Chat & Tacos is open to people who are working in the arts and performing arts every Friday. Just some of the topics discussed; “How do we generate audiences in our current state and moving forward?”, “How can we get support from the theaters to offer streaming services?”, “How has our current platform transitioned us to the global audience rather than local?”, and “When will our audience feel comfortable coming back to the theaters and art spaces?”. What you are doing in these uncertain times? In these uncertain times, I’m struggling to wrap my head around the future of the arts. Once a week, I set up an online gathering of people in the arts from across the country and at times from around the world where we are all engaged in intense conversations about where we are and where are going in response to this pandemic. From a creative side, my TSMC is actively creating new work in new ways utilizing the


Artists: Jennifer Mabus (dance artist), Lynn Lane (artistic director/percussion), Rūta Kuzmickas (poet), Ally Smither (soprano), Ben Roidl-Ward (bassoon), Thomas Frey (clarinet), Federico De Michelis (guitar), Carson Marshall (violin), Austin Lewellen(double bass), Alex Berko (piano). vimeo.com/407760828.


Q: What do you need for support? If this question is related to directly what I need as an individual, it would be true insight into how to best navigate the broken system of the TWC and the IRS. I literally spend all day trying to get through and dial between 300- 400 times a day and cannot get through to anyone. I am sure that other independent artists are in a similar situation. Is there anything that can be done, probably not until the system is addressed and


think that this is what people really need during this time period. Q: We would like to know how you are coping during the pandemic? Personally this is just an unbelievable time for me, the spring season was really about to be at it’s peak and then this happened. I lost all of my work as a photographer from now through the summer so I’m treading water until the fall with no certainty what that will look like. For our Transitory Sound and Movement Collective, we have had to stop development of new work. We have a commission to create a new work for a festival in Austin in the summer that I don’t know if the festival is happening. Honestly, I’m still trying to figure how I’m coping. I take it day by day and try to see some light out there… Q: How do you see yourself coming out of this situation? When everything lifts, we will see where all are…I’m sure that budgets will be cut, performances will be limited and we still have no idea how the large houses are going to address seating for performances. For our Collective, we are working on ideas now for new work and exploring different concepts as to how/where we we will be presenting our work. I think if I was to give an honest answer…my response would be I have no idea. I’m optimistic but at this point I don’t really know what that fully means right now. To learn more about TSMC visit tsmcollective.com. Follow us on


Facebook @transitorysoundandmovementcollective Instagram: @transitory_sound_and_movement. Email: lynnlane@mac.com.


and lynnlane.com.


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