Despite concerns surrounding the coronavirus, local ballet instructors are doing their part to help students dance through the hard times.
With guidelines from the Center for Disease Control suggesting a 10-person limit on crowds, Ballet Mississippi and Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet have had to cancel performances and dance classes.
However, both are using technology to their advantage to keep students moving while most are home-bound for the time being.
David Keary, artistic director of Ballet Mississippi, is using Zoom, a video conferencing app that allows for multiple people to connect at once, to continue their regular schedule of classes remotely.
Keary said they began working on offering online classes two weeks ago when there began to be concern about coronavirus in the United States. After working out the kinks, they were able to schedule a full calendar of classes.
Although the format is different, Keary said they have been happy with the result.
“We’ve had to condense what the class offers, but still keep it strenuous enough to be challenging,” Keary said.
With students having all of their classes remotely for the foreseeable future, they were also able to begin holding classes earlier. Classes have also been reduced to an hour instead of the usual hour and a half.
“It’s been so far very successful,” Keary said. “We just want them to keep moving and not just homebound. It’s not been a cake walk.”
Keary has set up the Zoom app with a connection to a television screen so that instructors can better see and engage with the students.
“It has worked beautifully,” he said. “It has been a very easy program to work with, and it has opened up a whole new way of thinking and working. I’m looking forward to continue using it in the future.”
Classes are scheduled to run through May 12, and as long as the CDC recommends limitations on crowds, Keary said they will continue with online classes.
“It’s just a short-term alternative to keep the kids moving and dancing,” Keary said. “We don’t cut back on the difficulty of it.”
At Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet, artistic director Jennifer Beasley said they have held 65 classes via Zoom so far and plan to continue.
“Our responsibility is to remain engaged,” she said. “We just want to give them a sense of normalcy.”
Beasley said they kicked off online classes on March 23, and will continue until the CDC guidelines have been lifted.
“We want to keep them dancing,” she said. “The response has been great.”
In fact, Beasley said they have had a 90 percent participation rate of their 650 students throughout the Jackson metro.
However, their annual end of the school year performance is still up in the air. As of now, the plan is to hold it sometime in June or July.
Beasley said they recently filmed the choreography for students to review in the meantime.
While adjusting to a new way of holding classes has been a challenge, Keary and Beasley are both using technology to maintain a schedule and sense of normalcy for their students during this time.
