All tagged COVID-19
“Stay productive and stay creative,” is what dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker Sabrina Naz Comănescu kept telling herself as COVID-19 sent waves through the performing arts community. That doesn’t mean that even with her optimism, she didn’t go through her own private mourning period when the Decidedly Jazz Danceworks’ Beautiful Noise production was cancelled outright – just days before its premiere.
Kenna Burima, a Calgary teaching artist and live performer, considered herself among the lucky few as she was immediately able to shift her teaching practice online when the COVID lockdown hit. But as the months of isolation wore on, she started to realize that as an artist, she couldn’t sustain her own need to be creative on recording sessions and live streams alone.
What happens to live musicians, actors, and other live performers when they can no longer perform?
Canada is currently five months into an unprecedented cultural shutdown. There have been some small efforts to open things back up, but for the most part our theatres are closed, our musicians aren’t performing, and all large-scale events have been postponed or cancelled.
“This is an enormous cataclysm for the performing arts,” says Mark Limacher, a local composer and pianist.
