Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist?

It has been hard. I am with a professional company with a contract so we had so many shows booked for the rest of the season and it has all been cancelled. We had a rehearsal about 3 weeks ago on the 14th when they told us to stop coming in and from there it has just been extending and extending. I dance all day everyday and I don't really have the option to work from home. We try to rehearse over Zoom but it is not the same. We can't go full out or practice partnering. And that’s hard for us.

‍

Q: What was your initial reaction to the US shutdown and mass cancellations?

My initial reaction to cancellation - I thought it was fake. I remember thinking this will blow over in a week and maybe 1 or 2 shows will be cancelled. But then it just kept going and going. It wasn't until late March it sunk in and I realized everything was really cancelled. On April 25th we had our big spring concert planned and we just found out that was definitely cancelled. I thought people were just being dramatic but it finally hit me mid March that this is real.