Connecting with choreography: Student organization keeps dancing through COVID-19

Maisie Fitzmaurice
Tue, 26 Jan 2021 00:40:41 +0000
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The Momentum Contemporary Ballet group used to meet in a hybrid setting, some in person some in Zoom, but are now limited to only virtual meetings. Credit: Courtesy of Vivian Corey

When Momentum Contemporary Ballet was founded in 2019 by a group of former dancers, the members had no idea the crisis that would ensue in the next year — but not even a pandemic could slow the students’ dance momentum.?

Momentum holds weekly one-hour virtual classes taught by Vivan Corey, a second-year in dance and exercise science and ballet master for the club, and bi-weekly classes taught by Tori Myers, a third-year in actuarial science and president of the club.?

The group would usually have an original choreographed live performance every semester, but this year they are working on moving the performance online, Laura Gaines, a third-year in statistics and membership and events coordinator for the club, said.?

Although they started last semester with in-person, socially distant classes, Myers said the transition from studio to online is not ideal.?

“Ballet is pretty demanding. You have to have a bar or something to hold on to,” Myers said. “And you also have to have that floor space so that you can move your legs and do the combinations.”

Myers said they have seen a drop in attendance since classes went virtual. What used to be 15 dancers in the studio has declined to about 10 participants on Zoom.

Despite the challenges, Kathleen Fink, a third-year in economics, said the group is making the best of it. She said members of the club’s executive board make an effort to reach out and offer support to fellow dancers by hosting virtual social events such as an arts and crafts night.?

“Vivian is our ballet master — that’s the term we have for the person in charge of classes — and she does a really good job of making [the activities] super interactive,” Fink said. “So even though we are on Zoom, it’s been really cool to still get to feel that sense of community with dance.”

When it is safe for the group to meet again in person, Corey said she would like to work on choreographing a piece together.

“One thing that we would like to do is open it up for our members to create pieces,” Corey said. “So when we finally have a chance to perform that in person, that would just be peak happiness and productivity for the club.”?

For many of the members in the group, dance has been something they’ve done their entire lives, Fink said. The group was originally formed to help the dancers continue to collaborate, practice and perform contemporary ballet.

“We noticed a gap in student organizations at Ohio State and that they didn’t have one organization specifically for contemporary ballet,” Fink said. “I personally like contemporary ballet more than classical just because you have a little more artistic freedom. And you can use more elements of other styles of dance.”

While the club has given the dancers a way to connect, Fink said that continuing training and expressing herself creatively has been really beneficial.

“You’re able to continue having a lot of ballet training, which is so important to all of us because it has been such a big and influential part of our lives,” Fink said. “It’s really cool to keep doing that in college, since it’s just a great way to de-stress and exercise and also practice your artistry.”