2020 – Covid-19 Pandemic – a worldwide shut down and a public health emergency unlike any in living memory

The Covid-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 was a global health emergency unlike any in living memory. Its particular long-term effect on ballet and dance is still being determined, but the most obvious impact was the immediate shut down of all in-person artistic activity in the first few months of the crisis as the industry and world at-large tried to understand responsible ways to navigate the – at the time – unknown health risks.

With resourceful spirit, dancers and students the world over committed to keeping fit by participating in Zoom ballet classes in whatever way they could – taking barre holding on to kitchen worktops, moving furniture in living rooms to make room for centre practice, and trying their best to stay active and inspired despite the inertia affecting the world and life in isolation. The dance world’s pivot to digital instruction actually may have connected us in a greater way: teachers and coaches thousands of miles apart could pass on knowledge in the new methods the industry was using to stay connected. Unanticipated creative endeavours did materialise over the two years the world paused, particularly the way in which dance companies released archival footage for streaming to the public or – once restrictions would allow – by producing digital work to be enjoyed by a public ever-present, just absent from the auditorium.

The time was characterised by discussion about what was important to take forward with us all in a post-pandemic world. Many people reassessed the priorities of their lives and these values are beginning to be reflected in dance. By 2024, despite much worry about sluggish box offices and a cost-of-living crisis, many theatres are almost back to capacity and dancers and public are devouring dance in-person once again. Certainly, we exist in a very different world post-pandemic.