Dance in the Time of Corona - Dancers in the Balance

In the final episode of our three part miniseries, we zoom in to meet three dancers. They are all at different stages of their careers and their lives have been affected in different ways by the pandemic:

GEAROID: 18 months into his professional career he is leaving his company job in Zurich. But, with the pandemic looming it is not the ideal time to go job hunting…

TIA: A mid career freelancer, Tia is days away from opening night of AWDC performance at Sadler’s Wells when the UK gets its stay at home orders…

MINTY: At a point in her career where she is dancing her dream roles, Minty can’t shake the feeling that there’s  another direction she should explore. Then Covid hit…

In this episode we will also zoom out, looking at the larger picture of how dancers, whose performing years are so limited, have had their careers particularly altered by the pandemic.

REFERENCES:

Theresa Ruth Howard, companies sending dance floor to dancers in their homes, humanizes dancers.

Freelancers Make Theatre Work analysis of challenges faced by performing arts sector freelancers

NYTimes reports on artists losing health care coverage from unions

NYTimes says 35 is average retirement age for dancers