quarantine dance

This Is Where We Dance Now: Symposium Report

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Photo by Elena Benthaus, used with permission. Design by Regina Harlig.

My biggest project pursued under Audiences and Online Reception: Before and After COVID is the issue of The International Journal of Screendance I am guest-editing with OSU alum (2019) and now Assistant Clinical Professor at University of Maryland, Alexandra Harlig, which is forthcoming in May/June https://screendancejournal.org/. We decided to open a space for our contributors to share their work and hosted a symposium on March 12-13 and 19-20 in conjunction with the special issue. We additionally organized some roundtable events on specific topics of interest: TikTok and Short-form Screendance, The Future of Screendance, and Screendance Festivals and Online Audiences. We tweeted under #WhereWeDanceNow and all of the symposium events were recorded and can be viewed online on the symposium website: https://u.osu.edu/thisiswherewedancenow/

The symposium marked what for many of us was a one-year anniversary of living with COVID, quarantines, and lockdowns as part of our new reality. When I proposed the special issue, I was slightly concerned that the pandemic was going to turn out to be a short blip, and that the issue would not feel relevant when it came out. I could not foresee the magnitude of the pandemic, and that the reason for our convening over those two weekends in March would be to grapple with what it means to make and practice dance onscreen in the midst of a virus that, at that point, had claimed over 2.5 million lives globally—a number that has increased to 3.25 as I write this in May 2021.

As with the journal special issue, the symposium considered the impact of COVID on the field of dance—where, how, why, and under what conditions we dance, now, when all dance is screendance. The symposium was on Zoom at no cost to presenters or attendees, and we were blown away by the response: nearly 300 registrants from around the world for the symposium’s 7 events (3 roundtables, 3 paper panels, and a conversation with the IJSD editorial board). As a global community, it is difficult for the screendance field to gather in person, and the burden to travel usually falls to those in the global south. We hope that this symposium was the first of many more to come, and that the new possibilities and infrastructures that arose to support the pivots necessitated by the pandemic will enable us to continue to sustain a globally expanded vision of dance onscreen.

“There Is No Prize at the End of the Movement”: Master Class with Alon Karniel, November 2, 2020

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There are few things that feel satisfying or like good translations for connecting with people in our Covid-circumscribed videoconferencing world. But on November 2, 2020, we were thrilled when participants in Audiences and Online Reception experienced a connective Internet-kinesthetic experience during dance artist Alon Karniel’s master class in The Feldenkrais Method®. This somatic practice, developed by Russian-Israeli movement theorist Moshe Feldenkrais, focuses on practitioners heightening their attention to small actions in their bodies through minimal effort to foster sensitivity, being in the moment, and a pleasant experience. Karniel guided us through an Awareness Through Movement® Feldenkrais session on Zoom, and then answered questions about what it has been like to be a working artist during the pandemic. His instruction midway through class, as we coordinated the biomechanics of sliding one palm against the surface of the opposite thigh that itself was wrapped around the other leg, “There is no prize at the end of the movement,” reminded us to attune fully to the moment. Taking a proverbial step back, this instruction to do a thing fully bolsters our reserve against other encounters that come. This moment reminded me of dance theorist Ann Cooper Albright’s discussion about how somatic practices can train us for social justice.

Even though I was lying on a mat in my living room by myself, I felt as though Karniel was right there with me, his instructions so clear and themselves so kinesthetically descriptive that it felt like we were in the same room together. When he gave guidance to the group, I felt the attentive presence of the other people in the class with me as well. Some of the questions we are asking in Audiences and Online Reception are about “after Covid.” While many aspects of dancing and audiencing have not made satisfying transitions to the screen, it was gratifying to feel that Karniel’s Feldenkrais class did, with the ease and release of effort that he stressed in doing the biomechanical sequences. After Covid, we are going to make choices in our hybrid world. We will choose to return to doing some things in person, and we will choose to continue doing some things online. One of the possibilities that Covid has created, paired with the development of videoconferencing technology, is that we can be connected to Karniel in Tel Aviv and take his class there from our internet portal in Ohio, during and after the pandemic.

During Covid, Karniel is teaching, rehearsal directing, and working with students in Haifa and Jerusalem in addition to his home base in Tel Aviv. Israel has gone through patterns of lockdowns and openings, lockdowns and openings since March 2020. This rollercoaster of allowances and restrictions specifically pertaining to theaters have deeply affected Karniel’s teaching work. During the discussion session after his class, Karniel described the effort to bring a dance to performance that he had worked on staging with students for nearly a year. First they were going to perform in a theater with an in-person audience; then without the audience and without the dancers being able to touch or be close to each other; then in a studio with an in-person audience; then in a studio without an audience. Finally, they were allowed to perform the work without any audience members in the studio space, so they filmed it. Karniel mentioned the extra effort it took to rechoreograph the movement patterns to comply with the no-touch, no-partnering restrictions, then to transform a dance made for a theatrical stage to a studio space, and then again still for the camera. Karniel’s experiences are common across Israeli theatrical dance companies during the pandemic thus far. Dance writer Deborah Friedes Galili discussed what it felt like to experience a studio performance of Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv during the narrow window in which Israeli restrictions briefly lifted so that audiences could attend dance performances: the excitement of being kinesthetically together again, and the anxiety about virus transmission. As we look toward what this landscape may turn out to be, the potential for remaining connected through practices like Feldenkrais and Karniel’s teaching offer possibilities for navigating this as-yet uncertain future.

Event Announcement // Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC) Lecture-Discussion and Master Class

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Institute for Dunham Technique Certification // Lecture-Discussion and Master Class

“Audiences and Online Reception: Before and After COVID” is delighted to host the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC) for a two-part series on Tuesday, October 20th and Thursday, October 22nd from 5:20-6:35 p.m. (ET) via Zoom.

Tuesday, October 20th // Lecture-Discussion with Penny Godboldo

Join Penny Godboldo for the presentation “Survival/Resilience in Challenging Times Through the Wisdom of the Katherine Dunham Technique: A Way of Life.” This presentation will view our response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Black Lives Matter Movement, this divisive Election Season and the sense of isolation that permeates life in the U.S.A. today. Through the Dunham Technique, a comprehensive experience we can understand the wisdom of viewing life through the Mind/Body/Spirit experience and most importantly through the lens of Movement—the ultimate Black Experience.

Thursday, October 22nd // Dunham Technique Master Class with Rachel Tavernier

Master Teacher Rachel Tavernier will lead a Dunham Technique master class on Thursday, October 22nd. Dunham Technique is a vibrant African American dance form that engages the body, mind and spirit! Created by dance pioneer Katherine Dunham, the technique is informed by the traditional dances of the African Diaspora, as well as by modern and ballet. Dunham Technique creates strong, dynamic dancers who embody rhythm and grace. Classes in DT offer a variety of experiences, including breathing, isolations, floor work, barre work and progressions across the floor. In this class, dancers will learn the foundational movement of the Dunham Technique and will explore the intersection of Dunham technique and high-spirited, folkloric-inspired movement.

Event Information

Tuesday, October 20th // 5:20-6:35 p.m. (ET)

Lecture Registration—Open to the general public

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, October 20th at 12 p.m. (ET)

 

Thursday, October 22nd // 5:20-6:35 p.m. (ET)

Master Class Registration—Open to Ohio State Department of Dance students, faculty, and invited guests

Registration Deadline: Thursday, October 22nd at 12 p.m. (ET)

Learn more about the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification, Penny Godboldo, and Rachel Tavernier by visiting the “Presenters” page.

Photography credits (right-to-left): Bree Gant; courtesy of Rachel Tavernier.

Event Announcement // Feldenkrais Method® Master Class with Alon Karniel

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Alon Karniel Master Class Announcement consists of two images. Karniel stands against a white wall wearing and blue and black stripped shirt. Karniel leans forward arms to the right high diagonal. He is wearing all red.

Headshot photography by Rosen-Jones. Dance photography by Natasha Shakhnes.

Audiences and Online Reception: Before and After COVID is pleased to announce it will host Alon Karniel for a Feldenkrais Method® master class on Monday, November 2nd from 8:30 AM-10:00 AM (ET) via Zoom. This free event is open to the public and will feature a question-and-answer session moderated by Dr. Hannah Kosstrin, Associate Professor of Dance. No prior experience necessary.

About the Master Class

The Feldenkrais Method is a somatic approach to education and self-inquiry developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-84), a renowned Israeli physicist, engineer and Judo master. In a group class, or Awareness Through Movement® lesson, the teacher verbally guides students through a particular movement sequence. These movements are performed with minimal effort, as easily and pleasantly as possible, with the aim of heightening kinesthetic sensitivity and improving the ability to detect differences so that the finer details of the self and surroundings can be better sensed. In this way, people effectively learn to become aware of what they are doing (as opposed to what they say or think they are doing), let go of unnecessary efforts and mobilize their intention into action.

Event Information

Feldenkrais Method® Master Class with Alon Karniel

Monday, November 2, 2020

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM (ET)

Registration for this Zoom event is required. Please fill-out the RSVP form by Friday, October 30th to receive the Zoom event link.

Learn more about Karniel by visiting the “Presenters” tab.

Dancing through the Pandemic, Jewishly

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Theatrical dance artists’ work conditions changed overnight when COVID-19 shuttered theaters and canceled tours. These changes affect how audiences access and understand dance. My work in Audiences and Online Reception: Before and After COVID focuses on Jewish and Israeli choreographers’ experiences of COVID-19: how lockdowns during the pandemic affected and continue to affect reception to their work; how they maintain mobility online or in other ways when they are stuck in place or their movement is otherwise restricted; and what they foresee and hope for the future.

The research I pursue with this grant supports my current book project on Jewish choreographers who circulated between the Americas and the Middle East through migrations, dance touring, and intercultural collaborations between the 1950s and the 2020s. Central to my project are Jewish choreographers in cultural minorities and Jewish interracial, intercultural, and LGBTQ+ contexts in concert dance. I examine how the reception to these choreographers’ work in print newspaper reviews and online determined how audiences understood them. I show how Jewish choreographers’ work from diverse backgrounds engenders what I call “kinesthetic peoplehood,” a transnational phenomenon wherein people feel connected to or estranged from a diasporic community through bodily practices. Divergent reception to these artists’ work across national contexts, particularly in COVID-19 shifts from the theater to the screen and re-conceptions about how audiences can come together around dance performances, generates transnational narratives stratifying the Jewish diaspora.

I am excited to welcome dance artists for online events during the 2020–2021 academic year. These events are open to the Ohio State community and to the general public. The artists will share some of their work and talk with students and community members about what it has been like to be a working artist during the coronavirus pandemic. First up is Alon Karniel, who will give a Feldenkrais Method® master class on November 2 and discuss his experiences working in Israel during the pandemic. Stay tuned for details on this and other upcoming events!

This Is Where We Dance Now

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This image shows a Zoom dance class.

Ohio State Professor of Dance Susan Van Pelt Petry leads dancers through a Hawkins-based spiral floor sequence in April 2020. This is just one example of how studio dance practices have moved online and into our homes during the COVID era. Image used with permission.

For my work as part of Audiences and Online Reception: Before and After COVID, I am delighted to be guest editing an issue of The International Journal of Screendance with Alexandra Harlig (OSU alum, 2019).

Teaching technique on Zoom, holding online dance film festivals, DJing house parties on Instagram, streaming archival performance documentation, making TikToks—the current era of quarantine and social distancing has rapidly rewritten the playbook for dance onscreen and dance online, impacting the dance field at every level. The long-term implications of this upheaval remain to be seen, but for the moment, we are seeing the culmination of a trend that has been unfolding over the past two decades or more: now all dance is screendance.

We are very excited for this issue, which considers both dance artists that have long viewed the Internet as a primary platform for sharing their work within vibrant online communities, and others who have been forced to innovate in response to sudden and radical changes to their practices.

The International Journal of Screendance is open access, and we look forward to sharing this work in May/June 2021. We are also planning roundtables and possibly a small symposium, so stay tuned for related events!!!!