The Red Bulletin December 2020 (UK)

DistDancing
“Dance needs to be
more approachable.
That’s what is great
about DistDancing”
Erik Woolhouse
Head east along the towpath from
Hoxton Docks and you’ll find
yourself at Here East, a creative
complex that backs onto the River Lee
Navigation and was built for the 2012
Olympics. Here, a corner room has been
turned into a makeshift dance studio for
Company Wayne McGregor’s RESET 2020
programme, which began in August and
offers a free 10-week programme of
ballet, contemporary and fitness training
to both the company’s own dancers and
freelancers who have fallen through the
cracks support-wise. The three-and-ahalf-hour
daily programme is a far cry
from Bassett-Graham’s pre-COVID
routine of being on tour for the majority
of the year or rehearsing in London from
10am to 6pm. But getting back into the
studio with other dancers – even if it is
socially distanced – is still very welcome.
One of the freelancers to benefit
from RESET 2020 is Jordan Bautista
(who uses the pronouns they/them),
a 25-year-old dancer originally from
Gibraltar. After dancing with the Polish
National Ballet in Warsaw, Bautista
relocated to London, and it was while
they were searching for work following
surgery that the pandemic struck. Today,
they’re confined to their own square
opposite Bassett-Graham, which has
been marked out on the floor with white
tape so that they and the other dancers
can train in a COVID-compliant way.
Each square has its own barre, a plastic
box for possessions, and a supply of
disinfectant wipes.
When the class is ready to start, the
instructor reels off a list of positions
so fast it sounds unintelligible to the
untrained ear, like an alien language or
the shipping forecast. But the masked
inhabitants of all 18 white boxes move
through their positions in perfect sync,
throwing their bodies into the kicks,
spins and curtsies of the physically
demanding ballet routine.
“I think one of the changes that will
come out of this pandemic is that both
dancers and audiences are going to be
much more aware of how much it takes
to come together and collaborate to
create work,” Bautista says. “I hope
people will become more appreciative
and understand how much work goes
into things, and how much dance
contributes to our culture.”
In mid-September, following intense
negotiations with the council and
police, and considerable support from
the public, the landlord of Hoxton Docks
allowed DistDancing to return. “We’re
still very much on alert, and there’s the
possibility of another shutdown,” says
Katsura. “We had to change our format
and drop the strict scheduling to prevent
a crowd gathering or police intervention.”
Now, in late September, it’s time
for the final show of the relaunched
DistDancing. It’s grey and overcast again,
but because of the lack of notification
there’s no crowd outside Hoxton Docks.
The Royal Ballet’s Giacomo Rovero walks
onto the pontoon stage and starts his
routine. Passers-by hear the music, stop
to look, and by the end of his threeminute
solo there are 20-30 people
watching in awe. These aren’t the legion
of fans DistDancing amassed through
social media, but rather new people
stopped in their tracks by a chance
encounter with dance – just as Katsura
and Zucchetti had originally intended.
“Things will never go back to ‘normal’
as we know it; they’ll only move forward,”
Katsura says. “When the theatres shut,
we worried we’d lose our connection
with audiences. But at a DistDancing
show you can tell people are still thirsty
for live performance. The connection is
maybe even stronger. I think lockdown
has made people realise how much they
need arts and culture in their lives.”
Fittingly, Katsura is DistDancing’s
fifth and final performer. Due to her
recent recovery, she performs a modified
version of the Emeralds solo from
choreographer George Balanchine’s
ballet Jewels. She avoids going en pointe,
but sweeps her arms gracefully in a port
de bras as her flowing skirt billows
around her, and finishes kneeling with
her arms crossed, facing the audience on
the towpath across the canal. The crowd
has now grown to around 50 spectators,
who applaud wildly as Katsura takes
a bow before being joined on stage by
the other performers.
“We’re so grateful to be able to bring
joy to people again,” Katsura says, relieved
at the hitch-free performance. “The
support we’ve had during the shutdown
has been incredible. To see everyone
come together to keep the arts alive is so
heartwarming. It’s the strength and hope
we need during these dark times.”
ballet.org.uk; roh.org.uk; waynemcgregor.
com; Instagram: @_distdancing_
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