Dancer Juliann Witt. Photo by Katerina Wong.
“Still Dancing": The Dancers of RAWdance on Working on “The Healer” in the Age of Quarantine
The phrase “still dancing” is a tenuous one. “Are you still dancing?” In years past, it referred to maintaining a career, generally speaking.
Now, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, the phrase takes on a new meaning with many more facets. Are you still dancing…at all? In your home? In person?
This week I caught up with the 4 performers/collaborators of RAWdance about the upcoming performance of “The Healer.” The group committed to a comprehensive multi-phased plan of testing, self-quarantining and podding together so that they indeed could rehearse in person and film the show. View it from your home on Jan 29-30th. Tickets here.
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From Juliann Witt:
Stepping into the theater that first day to begin remounting "The Healer" felt like a dream. Within the first breath I felt the comfort of revisiting a childhood home. I had no hesitation immediately rolling on the marley floors while gazing at the empty rows of seats that once held so many audience members. Then in the next moment, I would look at my fellow dancers with their masks obscuring most of their faces and would sharply be reminded of the severity of our reality.
At all times during this process I was acutely aware of not only how unique it was, but also how fleeting. For months I had missed the sweaty exasperated energy of being in a crowded dance class and the random chitchat in the halls outside the studio. And now I was lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to spend 10 whole days revisiting that dancer persona that I had been suppressing for the past 10 months. From the moment the process began I knew I would miss it when it was over. I hoped that this recognition of its ephemerality would help me to appreciate and revel in the process.
Now having woken up from that dream and able to further reflect, I can sincerely say that I feel rejuvenated and incredibly lucky. Dancers are very resilient, and we have all done our best to adapt to this current climate, but for just a moment it was revitalizing to revisit the comforts of a dance home. I continue to be filled with immense gratitude for this experience and for the incredible women I was able to share it with.
From Michaela Cruze:
It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 months since we postponed our performance of "The Healer” in March 2020. On one hand it seemed like only yesterday I was running from one rehearsal to the next, taking the bus down Van Ness, speedwalking down Mission Street in my sweatpants and gearing up for a performance at ODC theater in front of a live audience. None of these things felt particularly out of the ordinary or special at the time. Today, all of those things feel completely foreign and nearly impossible.
These past 10 months I have come to know my small, living room in ways I thought I never would. My living room carpet has become my dance floor, and the sunlight casting through my bay windows is the stage lighting. For the first few months dancing around my living room was fun and new. Then, it quickly began to feel like a prison, with too many physical limitations and isolating. Now, I am learning to accept and appreciate my living room because it has kept me dancing.
This process of remounting “The Healer” was tedious to say the least. I left my home and my husband for 10 days to test, quarantine, and pod to film this piece safely. Every sacrifice was completely worth it because for ten days I felt like a dancer again, without limitations and with complete trust of my colleagues. I had total focus.
From Stacey Yuen:
I did not realize until it was over how deeply I needed this time together. I had gotten used to the routine of moving furniture aside and dancing in my small living space with my headphones in as my partner worked less than 10 feet away. My life was monotonous, and this residency broke that up.
Taken out of the comfort of my own home and into an Airbnb with the other dancers, I remembered what it was like to be around other people, to cook meals together and then sit around the dinner table talking for hours. That openness and ease reflected in the theater. I quickly and comfortably fell back into dancing in person with this group, the reason being that I had the utmost trust in these women. I reveled in being able to hear and sync up with their breaths, to hold and carry them. And while that was easy, getting back into shape was another story. I had completely forgotten how it would feel to actually move in a theater, to travel across that expansive space. What a thrill - and kick in the butt - it was to be back.
From Katerina Wong:
It’s been 10 months since we had to postpone our home season TRIPLE TAKE at ODC Theater, which was when "The Healer" was originally scheduled to premiere to live audiences. The weeks and months that followed that heart-wrenching moment were filled with immense struggle, gratitude, and fortitude. As humans, we were surrounded by grief, isolation, fear, and uncertainty. As a society and dance industry, we navigated long overdue reckonings, vital reflections, and undeniable calls-to-action to commit to anti-racist policies and beliefs, and fight for a better future. And as dancers, we mourned the loss of our lifelong practices — daily classes in a studio, in-person rehearsals, collaborative workshops, and live performances — and with that the loss of touch and partnering, deep connection through nonverbal communication, and the ultimate sense of care and support that pulses through our local dance community. In its place we were tasked with what felt like an insurmountable challenge to translate, reimagine, and redefine what it meant to be a dance artist without any of our tools, spaces, or structures.
As a still relatively new leader of RAWdance, the responsibility to adapt quickly, find creative solutions, and keep our artists connected and thriving weighed heavily on me. How can we support one another at home, with rehearsals over Zoom, and masked and socially distanced film shoots? How much space was necessary to reserve for important conversation, reconnection, and laughter? And when it came time to seriously consider how we might be able to resurrect "The Healer," what was essential to preserve for the art, and what could be reinvented to meet where we all stood at that moment? It took almost 6 months of intense planning through a lot of open and honest dialogue, and a team of incredibly dedicated and thoughtful dancers, designers, administrators, and technicians to bring this production to life. Words cannot describe how it felt to step back into a theater again, carry each other's weight, move expansively through space, and let the energy and music course through our veins as an ensemble. Though the in-person experience lasted for only 6 days, it refueled me with the passion, drive, love, and important reminders that I needed for why we do what we do. I was whole again, if only for a brief moment. And I will hold that experience closely and tightly until we can have another one again. Until then, I sincerely hope you will join us in witnessing this premiere and engaging with us in an opportunity to experience communal healing, rest, and restoration - things we all so deeply continue to need.
Photo by Del Medoff
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Related post:
With Appreciation and Admiration: A Few Musings on "Utopia"
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