How has the coronavirus crisis affected you as a professional performing artist so far?

Obviously all of my work (as I usually know it) has completely dried up. I’m fortunate that I currently have financial stability in my current job for at least the next few months (I’m meant to move to Germany this year!), but who knows what the next few months might bring. I’m also very aware of a lot of my friends and colleagues who aren’t in such a fortunate position, which is just really awful. 

Are you exploring any alternatives for staying connected to your art and to your audience during this time? Do you have any suggestions for other dancers?

A lot of groups (including the ACO) are turning to digital platforms. I think this is a really good way of keeping connected with our audiences, but it’s SUCH a learning curve! It’s a good thing to get on top of, and I’m sure the skills will come in handy down the line.

I don’t think everyone has to do this, however. If it’s going to cause you more stress or anxiety during this time, I think it’s most important to look after your mental and physical health first and foremost. 

What strategies are you using to take care of yourself during this time of uncertainty and isolation?

I go through periods of ups and downs – sometimes I feel really good about the fact that life has slowed down a lot, and there is time for things that one usually wouldn’t have time for, and other times I feel totally stuck and like I’ve lost a lot of purpose. In these times it’s good to just take some deep breaths, go for a bit of exercise (whether that’s in the house or a walk/jog/run outside) and try to recalibrate. It’s ok to let yourself have “nothing” days, I think! It’s also good to touch base with friends and realise that we’re all in this together. 

Do you have any other comments to make regarding the current crisis in regard to performing arts healthcare?

We will get through this – and hopefully on the other side we will come out stronger as a sector. It’s my hope that people have been turning to the arts during their times of isolation, and might start to rethink how necessary they are for the mental wellbeing of our world! Let’s look out for each other.

How has the coronavirus crisis affected you as a professional performing artist so far?

The immediate change was a sudden stop of our season of “Volt” with The Australian Ballet, followed one week later by the move to working from home, once the government announced gym and indoor sporting activities need to cease. It was a strange feeling to have worked so hard collectively for many months to stage the triple bill and then to close the night after the premiere. The dancers are all doing class from home, setting up our small dance spaces amidst furniture, pets and children. We stream a class daily that is lead by one of the ballet staff who at this point are still allowed into the studios to film. While the change in pace and adjustment to the new “normal” is still novel, everyone seems to be coping very well with the major change in our lives.

However there is a great deal of uncertainty about when we will be allowed to perform again and what that repertoire will be. I suspect as this time of isolation lengthens our personal motivation and discipline will be put to the test. It feels as though someone has hit pause on life. For dancers, time is so precious, so fleeting you don’t want to waste a moment. I really feel for many young dancers, pre or newly professional that were really pushing to achieve their dreams when this all happened. At a time when the planet is facing such a serious health issue, to despair over the closing of a season seems a little selfish, but I think the many emotions dancers will feel are all valid.

Are you exploring any alternatives for staying connected to your art and to your audience during this time? Do you have any suggestions for other dancers?

Thank goodness for the internet! I have already spent way more time than I normally like on my devices learning how to work new programs such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. My plan is to do our company online class daily, but then also watch a lot of other teachers around the world taking their own remote classes as a learning tool.

I have been updating my “working from home” situation on my social media account and subsequently have had this aired on ABC breakfast television! After this happened I received a lovely message from a ballet supporter who has a barre that she wants to lend to my husband Ty (fellow principal artist of TAB) and I so that we can use it instead of our dining chairs weighted down with potting mix.

There is a lot of kindness coming from the community in this time, it has allowed us to use social media to make some really warm connections. I’ve been told that Marquee TV is a great Arts Channel to stream, it has lots of amazing performances to watch to keep us inspired in this time off.

I’m also really interested to see how full time ballet schools cope with this time off. I am associated with both the ABS and the National Theatre Ballet School in Melbourne, both of which have full-time diploma courses. The logistics for educators across the country to deliver classes to students remotely is huge and with ballet in particular the challenges are even greater.

What strategies are you using to take care of yourself during this time of uncertainty and isolation?

My 17 month old daughter Bonnie is my biggest “strategy” for keeping a routine! She is awake early and likes her daily schedule of sleeping, playing and snacking. Ty and I have woven our ballet and body conditioning plan around her routine so that we maximise the time she is resting and then when she is awake we get the joy of spending more precious time with her.

In so many ways I am enjoying this new pace of life. We are not sitting in the car commuting before work, instead we are doing pilates and conditioning in the comfort of our lounge room before immediately shifting into the garage where we do class. Following class we put on our sneakers and head to the local oval where we can do a bit of cardio with safe social distancing. The benefits of fresh air, sunshine, rest and good nutrition are so important in this time where we all need to stay as healthy as possible. 

Our boss, David McAllister has been such a great leader in this time of uncertainty. He is endlessly positive and has encouraged us to focus on using the time to heal any injuries, to really commit to the strength programs our medical team have prescribed and to enjoy the joys of not constantly performing and travelling.

I’m also making the most of this time at home by studying as much as possible for my Graduate Diploma of Elite Dance Teaching with The ABS. So far I have done a few skype sessions and caught up on a lot of homework. Many elements of the course are designed to be completed when we are on tour in Sydney (which would have been now) so I am still able to complete them distantly from my home. 

My husband and I have also been rehearsing for a piece that is being created by our friend Danielle Rowe remotely. It will be snippets of dancers all around the world dancing the choreography we have learnt via Vimeo and then edited together to create an online work. The creativity of this art form with find many new pathways during this time.

Do you have any other comments to make regarding the current crisis in regard to performing arts healthcare?

At the moment I think a lot of dancers around the world are really focused on staying fit while in isolation and doing as much physical work as they possibly can. This is awesome and I can see from the amount of online ballet classes we will not be at a loss for inspiration. I do think it is important that we remember to look after ourselves mentally during this time as well. To not panic, to be calm and accept the situation for what it is. To find other talents, to enjoy the small treasures the world offers while we have temporarily hopped off the busy conveyor belt of life.

I think dancers thrive off the energy of their peers so it’s important to find ways to connect and support each other. We have been doing messenger “coffee” chats before class with our friends as you normally would when warming up for the day. Tomorrow Adam Bull is planning to run the daily quiz via MS Teams as he normally does each lunchtime in our common room. Nearly everyone I know has been on the Houseparty app which I had the joy of testing out last night. I had the best “party” catching up with my friends all over Australia on the call and afterwards I could feel how much my spirits had lifted. We all said “we should have been doing this for ages, its awesome!”

To be honest I feel as though I have had a lot of practice to be prepared for this time in isolation. Many years of rehabilitating injuries, being separated from my peers who were on tour performing. Going on long service leave and working out how to keep ballet fit in hotel rooms for 3 months. Having a baby is also like an “isolation” project. You lose your sense of normal, your dancer identity and are pretty much housebound! But this time is different, this time the whole world is in it together.

I send strength and health to dancers everywhere and hope that we keep our collective energy and support of each other during this time for as long as it lasts.

What area of the performing arts do you work/study in? (Right to Left):

I’m Rachael. I play piano and percussion, and I’m in my final year studying to be a classroom music teacher.

I’m Monash. I’m a flute player. I’ve completed my BMus and I’m doing a Grad Dip in Secondary Education.

My name is Ellis, and I am in my final year of my Bachelor of Arts and Education. My majors are Music and Maths. I play trumpet.

What are some challenges you have faced so far working in the arts?

Monash: The general competitive vibe of everything and anything. It is almost always about being the best, and aiming for that, which is not always the most healthy attitude towards life.

Ellis: A lot of self-doubt, especially being in an educational role. The feeling that you’re not the best musician. And that sort of eats away at you –  that feeling of, am I knowledgeable enough to pass on information to the next generation? And sometimes you’ll have a good lesson or a really good day and you’ll feel comfortable about the fact that, no, you are a good musician – you are good at explaining these things and helping people get better. But I think it goes along with that competitiveness. There is this feeling of “There are different levels of musicianship and ability”, and that’s really disheartening at times. You feel kind of bad – useless – terrible musician. That feeling of, “I don’t practice enough”, or “My perfect pitch is non-existent”. Stuff like that – where you do feel like a lesser musician, regardless of if it’s true or not – it’s that self-doubt.

Rachael: I would definitely agree with the self-doubt. The biggest challenge I have faced as a musician – in 2014 I was practicing piano a lot. I had an important recital coming up. I over-practiced to the point that I developed a repetitive strain injury in both of my wrists. I didn’t have any movement basically in my left wrist, and my right wrist was bad as well. So I had to do a lot of muscle exercises, wear wrist braces, see a physio quite often, postpone my recital. And it was a very emotional time for me, because I was basically told, ‘The only way to fix this is to stop being a musician. Stop playing piano.’ And I just thought, “I’ve come so far, and done so much, I don’t want to stop.” So the way I overcame that was again just trying to ignore those self-doubts, and to stop thinking “maybe I won’t be able to do this ever again.” I had to start thinking of it just as a break. And I think as teachers and musicians we’re often hard on ourselves – sometimes we need to give ourselves that break. Whether it’s a physical injury or a mental block. You need to stop and go, “No, it’s okay, there’s always a way to fix something.”

Monash: It sounds corny, but you need to believe in yourself. Trust that what you are doing is right and comes from an informed place.

What do you think is the most rewarding part about working in the performing arts?

Monash: Maybe self-indulgent, but when people clap. [laughs]

[laughs] It’s nice, isn’t it?

Monash: It’s the best feeling. When you finish and you think, “Thank God, they enjoyed that!”

Rachael: In ensemble playing, I find when something just works. If you pull something together that has been falling apart at the seams for weeks and then all of a sudden it just works – and you get this passionate feeling that, “Wow, we just pulled that off!” It’s an amazing feeling. Especially if you have a lot of friends in the ensemble. You feel like you all worked together as a team to make it happen. That’s very rewarding.

Ellis: I think the social aspect. When you’re listening and responding to each other in any size of ensemble or group, you get that energy. It really makes the music come alive. You listen to a piece and it might not mean much to you. But if you see it live or better still play it yourself, all of a sudden that work gets transformed for you.

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I presented my research at ASPAH in 2015. I was identifying the most common postural issues in children learning music and finding what cues and strategies we could give these kids to help them improve. Unsurprisingly, the research shows that if you tell kids about this stuff, they do improve, unless they really don’t care. I was never told any of this. I was always just told, “Sit up” and that was it.

What do you think the main points of your research were?
I think you should tell kids it’s not normal to be feeling pain. You can feel uncomfortable, but if you’re feeling pain, that’s not something you need to keep practicing through. You should talk to your teacher about it and your teacher should be equipped with lots of different ways to help you. I teach my kids stretches now and we do stretches regularly. I do stretches myself and go to the gym twice a week because I find for me – after years of abusing my body – an upper body workout is the way I get those muscles to relax. The physio who I work with now is very preventative. He taught me a bunch of stretches and then said “when you’re not in pain every day you can go and do workouts, and go and build those muscles instead”: the preventative approach. Unless I’ve been really stressed and working at a computer late in the night, I don’t have any pain in my shoulders, which I don’t think I could say for a single week during undergrad. There wasn’t a week where I woke up and said “Wow, I’m not in pain today.”

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career so far?
I had to think about what I wanted to be. Which is a bit of everything. I want to play and I want to do chamber music and I want to do orchestras – I’m in 2 orchestras as their principal flute at present. Physically, I had an ulnar nerve entrapment at the elbow. I got it in grade 12 when I was practicing a lot for MOST. I bombed that audition because my fingers stopped working. I went to a doctor and they were like, “it’s probably just repetitive strain injury,” and said, “rest it for a week.” And it kind of got sort-of better, but it remained a constant problem for 9 years. But not enough… just enough that I wasn’t very good with these two fingers. During my masters, they stopped working more and more. I was doing an hour at a time of practice, ‘ergonomic’ practice I guess, not five hours at a time – because I couldn’t practice any longer or my fingers would stop working. And this isn’t something you publicise if you want to keep on playing principals in orchestras, because nobody wants someone whose fingers don’t work. And I think there’s a lot of shame around injuries, especially if they are career stopping or career pausing injuries, because “You don’t want to tell anyone about that or they won’t give you a gig. And you won’t get paid. And then someone else gets the gig and they keep getting the gig, and you don’t get the gig because you’ve got crippled fingers.” But now I realise, I don’t really care so much about that.

I was misdiagnosed with focal dystonia. Then I went away and read about it, and came back and said, “I don’t agree. Actually, none of the literature supports what you are saying and none of my experiences support what you’ve diagnosed me with.”

How did they react?
Well, he said, “tell you what, I’ll send you to a hand specialist and they can do an EEG.” And he didn’t find anything. And so I called him up and said, “Can I just come into your office for twenty minutes and do this [demonstrates fingering]”. Because when I saw him I wasn’t showing any severe symptoms because I hadn’t been practicing that day. So I went and sat in his office and did this until my fingers literally… it feels like they’re going to sleep and then they feel dead, like you can’t feel them properly. So I went and did that and then he shocked me, and that was fine. And he said, “hey look at that, you have nerve entrapment at the elbow, my God!” And then we scheduled surgery the week after… and I woke up and I can move these fingers – I can’t believe it!
And I think the worst part about it was that I’d always complain to my teachers, but because these are the worst fingers anyway [3rd and 4th], they’d say, “No, just practice more, because they’re weak naturally – you’re right handed, and they’re your two worst fingers on your left hand.”

I think students who are learning – even if you don’t experience injuries personally, you should make at least a cursory effort – you should do at least one semester of courses where you look over performance injuries, performance injury prevention, and discuss it in a more open environment. I think people just need to be more open about it. The more people discuss physical disabilities or the issues they are having and try to solve them, rather than just acknowledging them, I think we can actually move towards doing something about them. And making a more positive culture about it. Because so many people I meet have horrendous injuries. And they’ve just accepted that pain is going to be a part of their everyday life from now. And regardless of whether you’re good at playing music, I don’t think that’s a good pedagogy because it’s not good to push your students so far that they are physically crippled. And I know that’s not a PC word to say, but I get really angry about that.

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