Cajai Fellows Johnson
Q: Using the idea of “worldmaking” how do you imagine the performing arts world after the pandemic? (Worldmaking: How you can re-imagine the world in your own terms, the way you want it to be. Using this tool one can construct new worlds and write themselves into narratives that have excluded them and systems that have disabled them.)
I would like the rest of the world to see how important the arts are… Art is always pushed to the back of the line and considered an extracurricular but the fact is the arts are very necessary. We are all watching TV and listening to music. Without it ... we would lose a part of our souls.
Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist?
We were told our show was suspended for a month on April 12… This means we are not dancing and performing. But I think that it will be extended for another month after that. I am one of the luckier artists right now because my friends who do freelance gigs… their jobs are just gone now. I am lucky that ‘Frozen’ is a very successful show produced by Disney Theatrical which has money to support us. Unfortunately, some of the other shows that just got to Broadway that are funded by smaller producers may not be able to open up again...
Cajai Fellows Johnson is a dancer, actress, and fine artist from Bloomfield, CT. Her dad, Jaimoe, is a founding member and drummer of the Allman Brothers Band and mom, Catherine Fellows, has been the Dance Director at Central Connecticut State University for more than 45 years. Performing is definitely in her blood since she’s been performing professionally since age 10 when she was cast as Young Nala in the first national touring company of The Lion King. She’s a New Yorker now and also parallel to her performance career, draws large-scale, charcoal, realistic drawings of dancers, on used drum heads. New York Lifestyles recently met Cajai to catch up with this young, talented performer.