With the upcoming dance concert approaching, the dance department has to keep in mind the COVID-19 virus and the risks it may have. Dance has always been a sport with close contact and intermingling choreography across member to member, therefore changes to the concert were fabricated to ensure that the risks of everyone getting exposed to the virus are at the very minimal. These changes will be made to both the audience and the dancers on stage.

Members of the audience must have pre-ordered their tickets in advance to be able to attend the concert. The school did not want to take any risks towards spreading the virus, therefore, they made the executive decision to reduce the auditorium’s capacity. This is to reassure that everyone that is a part of the audience is social distancing. Dance teacher Mrs. Sadler indicates, “If people want to attend or perform in the show they must abide by all of the safety protocols. It’s not how we would like to run things, but we are the first performing group to go and we want to make sure we set the precedent. We want to keep our performers and audience safe.” People who plan on attending the concert can also expect a 15 minute intermission to clear out the room and let the air recirculate.

Masks are a huge part of keeping everyone safe from the Coronavirus and the dancers will be utilizing them throughout most of their performances. Concert pieces will be coordinated to be in smaller groups than usual to increase the spacing between dancers, however for the larger pieces dancers will be required to wear their masks. Senior and president of Moveo Taryn Bee shares, “As of right now, we all have to wear masks for the performance but they are actually clear which is something pretty funny, but it is so you can see our faces as we perform.” Dancers perform not only with their bodies but with their facial expressions therefore they decided to go with this kind of mask so it would not interfere with their storytelling.

The dance program at Perry has been preparing for their concert, Road Trip USA, since the first quarter when students were learning virtually. This gave Moveo junior Delaney Hudson an opportunity to see how the virus affected her as a performer. Hudson mentions, “It is very hard to dance in a mask, because it is so much cardio work. Especially going through number to number, it is very quick paced. And just wearing a mask makes it so much more difficult to breath and makes you work even harder.”

Students at Perry must continue taking these safety measures seriously if they wish to proceed in having events of the sort. Members inside of the dance department continue to pay close attention to their health by reaching all the guidelines needed to keep their family and loved ones safe.