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Eugenie du Preez donned a mask to talk to Kirsten Isenberg about overcoming lockdown restrictions and keeping ballet on stage, despite the crisis caused by a global pandemic
Imagine you’ve been asked to create a ballet for a dance project. There’s just a snag or two: the dancers aren’t allowed to touch each other, and they can’t all be in the same room at the same time.
These were some of the challenges Kirsten Isenberg faced when she and four other choreographers were commissioned by Debbie Turner, the CEO of the Cape Town City Ballet, to create a suite of ballets collectively called Moon Behind the Clouds. The name comes from a Michael Franks song Turner liked to listen to during the hard lockdown. "It really is about a semblance of light coming out of the darkness, not as bright as the sun but at least the moon. This really stood out as a metaphor for being able to get back into the studio and back to work."
Isenberg takes up the tale as we sit in the foyer of an eerily quiet Artscape, with little sign of life apart from some maintenance men who wander in and out. "We were just able to come back to work. Debbie wanted to keep the company going, and she wanted the dancers to have something inspiring to work on." Turner’s brief was for each choreographer to create a work inspired by the way people were feeling during the lockdown.
"When I started working with the dancers, we were only allowed to have a certain amount of people in a studio and the dancers had to be 1,5m apart." Isenberg describes the mixed feelings they experienced: "We’d all been in our own little bubbles. It was wonderful to be back at work but also scary at the same time, as we had to remember all the protocols and the distancing."
No contact whatsoever between the dancers
And worst of all, no contact whatsoever was allowed between dancers. In a dance form as tactile as ballet, where dancers are constantly in each other’s spaces and partnering work between men and women plays such a vital role, this was difficult indeed.
Isenberg wanted to use as many of the company’s dancers as possible, so she adopted a completely experimental approach. "I had to take the female dancers on their own and essentially create a solo on them, and then I had separate rehearsals with the men and created a solo on them, trying to remember what I had created on the women so it was like a response to each other." In the end, it was "quite surprising how it sort of came together and became a duet", says Isenberg.
The compulsory wearing of masks – which are lightweight but have the prescribed layering - is a challenge all on its own. "They make it extremely difficult to breathe, especially when you’re fatigued and the work is physically demanding." And, she adds, they can also be distracting during performance - especially if you think your mask may be slipping off.
Masks are worn for the whole performance and also for the dancers’ entire practice day, which starts with class at 10:00 and finishes after rehearsals at 18:00. "We have a dedicated Covid officer who monitors all our protocols, daily check-ins and tight management of staff and the space," says Turner. Dancers have been provided with individual lockers where they can "keep all their things very separate and have their own sanitising sprays", says Isenberg.
"Another difficulty with masks is that dance is such an emotive thing - you connect with a dancer not only through their body and what they’re doing, but also through the expression on their faces." And with half their faces covered in masks, dancers need a bit of over-exaggeration in their bodies and eyes so that the audience can connect to what they are expressing, says Isenberg.
Each of the five short pieces is danced to a piece of classical music, making it possible for the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra to be involved in performances. "Somehow, I feel like the styles all came together; there’s light and shade, something for everybody," says Isenberg. The ballets are linked together by the text of Max Ehrmann’s poem Desiderata, which is declaimed by actor Marcel Meyer.
Moon Behind the Clouds proved to be a lifeline for the choreographers, who are all freelancers, says Isenberg. "We were very thankful that Debbie gave us this opportunity, because it was some of the only work we received last year." She is awed by the dancers’ resilience: "Performers have this sort of emotional capacity to rise out of a negative situation … we are one of the industries that’s been the worst hit, but they still keep going."
The company relies heavily on box office takings and Turner says: "Performances (even if only to 100 people, as in the case of this work) keep us going through this tough time."
Cape Town City Ballet – Back on Stage also features George Balanchine’s iconic ballet Serenade.
• Performances will take place at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town from Thursday 18 to Saturday 20 March at 19:30, with a matinee on Saturday 20 March at 15:00 (booking at Artscape Dial-a-seat 021 - 421 7695 or through Computicket). There will also be performances in Durban at the Playhouse Company Opera Theatre on 27 and 28 March (booking at Webtickets). The event complies with all Covid-19 regulations and patrons must wear masks for entry. Due to social distancing requirements, only 100 seats will be available for each performance.
