The dance students stretch on their bedroom floors in front of chromebooks. They are transferred into breakout rooms where a classmate teaches original choreography to a screen of silent faces. They discuss costumes, music, and entrances for the dance concert, like normal, but this year other factors such as camera angles and editing have come into play. Due to COVID-19, students have been preparing for the upcoming dance concert in their own homes.

The dance concert will be themed “Trapped in a Horror Movie” and students are choreographing their own pieces along with student leaders coming up with dances for bigger groups, said dance teacher Amy Moorhead.

They also have a guest choreographer who is creating an original piece for the class and Moorhead will also be creating a piece which focuses on the feeling of isolation, she said.

“The idea of traveling across the [dance studio] floor is a distant memory,” Moorhead said. “That said, artists are flexible, and I’m proud of how the dancers have adapted to a very difficult situation.”

Senior dancer Shari Lynn Halden said it is a struggle to be a lead choreographer and not be able to interact with other dancers or with a partner in person.

“I have to get really creative on how to have dancers interact through a screen.” Halden said.

Sophomore Yelena Duncan-Dutra said that while this is a new experience for her, she is staying optimistic and doing her best with the current situation.

“The pros of distance learning are you have your own space, and can dance somewhere that is familiar,” Duncan-Dutra.

Moorhead said the student leaders are embracing the challenges of working with dancers, including dancers who don’t always have their cameras on.

“The leaders are being patient and kind as well as creative,” Moorhead said.

The class has been using breakout rooms so small groups can work alone and choreograph separate pieces, Moorhead said.

“Breakout rooms work for small group work on dance projects without having to try to tune out another’s group’s music [like we would in person],” she said.

The concert, comprised of about 15 pieces, will be virtual and pre-recorded, said Moorhead.

“I would love to push [the concert] our to the whole school community, which we actually did not do for our spring concert,” Moorhead said.

A link to the virtual dance concert will be available either the last week of first semester or first week of second semester.