March 24, 2020
Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside aka The Cindies
from American Ballet Theater was on Live with Kelly & Ryan this morning
Weird times. The dance world is now online only. Ballet, Modern, kids dance, Yoga and Pilates classes are streaming online both on paid sites and live on instagram. It’s a great opportunity for all of us to stay active and you should check it out.
But now, lets talk about the artists for a second.
Many businesses are struggling right now, some will probably have to close down, many people will lose their jobs and it will be tough during and after all this. Artists like dancers that was already struggling, maybe juggling 3-4 jobs to get around will get hit hard by this.
Being a dancer is tough, always.
Not only do you not get paid for a lot of the work you do – I have been paid in things like promised exposure (they always say this and you never ever get it), bags of chips or checks with discounts for eye wear which you can not pay your rent with – you now also have to compete with everyone on social media. These days, everyone is a dancer, everyone is a yogi, everyone is a photographer etc. The better you are at marketing yourself online the higher paid jobs. It doesn’t matter if you really know what you are doing or not, if you have a large following then companies will pay you to continue and those who have dedicated their entire lives to for example the art of dance who does not have a following or who does not fake it to make it will continue to struggle to pay rent. Sad but true. And now with the coronavirus and everyone staying at home you’d hope that the artists could get space to shine and earn some extra cash through online classes, but…
I have seen so many ‘influencers’ who has posted fitness videos, yoga sequences, pilates workouts, ballet inspired moves at home or danced on tiktok to get their followers to move while at home. Hear me right now, Yes, it is great that they get others to move, but, instead of all these who does not have fitness as their main income should, in my opinion, stay away from offering free fitness videos and instead stick to what they are good at and then mention their personal trainers, yoga teachers, ballet teachers, pilates instructors or the studios they normally take class at, send all their followers to those who actually taught them how to do it and then those people can show how to do things.
Not only do teachers and PTs get to show their hard work and maybe earn some cash (or at least get that exposure so they can have a chance after all this is done), they can also show the proper way of doing things so that everyone doesn’t have to get injured while they are at home, cause unfortunately I have seen way too many influencers and such over the years showing things that isn’t correct or they don’t explain how to do the exercises they are showing and if you are perhaps a teenager who look up to all these fashionistas, funny youtubers and what not, then you believe whatever they say.
* I want to be clear, I have nothing against influencers, youtubers and people working online, they work really hard and are obviously talented in something and have gained a following for whatever they are good at which is awesome. What I’m saying is that if they have a studio they go to and teachers they learn from, they should give a shout-out to them instead of taking the credit themselves.
This is the time to appreciate the artists. While we stay at home we watch movies, we listen to music, we look at the paintings on our walls, we get inspired by cool images online and we enjoy dance whether it’s on instagram, youtube or in movies and tv-shows or by dancing on our own. In times of crisis, everyone turns to art, always. Please show your favorite artist some extra love.
I’ve checked out The Cindies Ballet Class in the kitchen a few times, above is screenshot from March 18
They are great, go check them out
I don’t know how it is in other countries, but here in America
they now log in from home to host programs since we are ordered to keep a safe distance from each other.
I read that the police in NYC is now giving out fines if they see any gatherings happening,
parks are open but everyone need to keep a distance of 6 feet apart
(unless of course it’s like husband and wife or parent and kid)