Performing Arts

Despite the many challenges faced by the performing arts, we now can see how dance and theater found new ways to remain alive and relevant during the first year of the pandemic. That was done by becoming resilient in the face of illness, death and despair, and by adapting to new spaces and forms of presenting themselves.

We could say that three main avenues served as paths for this reconfiguration. While more elaborated productions, usually supported by strong technology, became restricted to directors and choreographers with long and recognized careers, a new wave of informal low budget productions introduced the world to homes repurposed as stages and to what bodies of all ages can do, without the usual scenic apparatus. The third has been represented by the mass choreography of anti-racist, anti-violence and gender equality movements, which will be the sole object of another edition.

In this edition of A4P, we are presenting the two first approaches, both through the work of two master choreographers – Bala Sarasvati and Mallika Sarabhai – who delight us with all the complex layers of a full dance performance, and through the works of younger artists who share with us how they have been coping with the moment through the performing arts.  We are especially moved to include master teacher Ellen Goldman, who welcomes us into the intimacy of her home while she explores in movement the words of James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake”.

- Regina Miranda, Founding Member & Curator, Performing Arts, Artists4peace.org