In-Person Dance Returns to UWM

Ashley Garcia, 25, is a dance major at UW-Milwaukee. Garcia has performed in four shows through the Peck School of the Arts Department of Dance, but because of COVID-19, her opportunities have been limited. 

Garcia has performed in two virtual shows within the past year. When the department’s annual Springdances of 2020 was postponed a year ago, at the height of COVID-19, Garcia suffered along with her peers. 

“It was really hard because I had to move back to Michigan which was really heartbreaking,” she said. “To have that all taken away and moving back to a town where all the dance opportunities are very limited, it was really hard for me.” 

UWM’s PSOA Department of Dance hosted the 2021 Springdances: Blurring Borders last week with an in-person audience for the first time in over a year at the Jan Serr Studio. 

Four shows were offered, Thursday through Saturday, with limited seating up to 42 people per show. Chairs were positioned six feet away from each other and six feet from the performers who danced on a concrete platform. A livestream option was provided for each show as well.

Garcia thought she would be nervous about the performance, but instead, she felt exhilarated.

“I appreciate hearing people in the audience again, not just the applause, but hearing people get excited,” she said. “I enjoy connecting with people again.”

Associate Professor Maria Gillespie is an artist and performer who choreographed a piece in this year’s show. 

“I am overjoyed that the viewer is having a visceral response that you cannot get on a screen,” she said. “To take a dance that is made for a concert setting, set it in a stage with lights and a square, then post it on a two-dimensional screen to watch, it’s just not the same experience.”

The department’s commitment to protocols allowed it to keep majority of classes in person this past year. However, the restrictions came with a new reality for the dancers.

“I think the biggest challenge for both the faculty and students was how to endure when you don’t get the same payoff you get dancing without masks and close to each other,” Gillespie said. “Those rewards have been taken always from us because we have to be far apart, and it’s been very fatiguing emotionally for everybody.”

The department required each performer to get tested for COVID-19 twice a week for an entire month leading up to the show. With consistent negative results, the show was able to run successfully. 

“To have people in an audience watching us live and hearing them either gasp, laugh, or clap means that it is a little bit of that reward, that closeness and proximity, “said Gillespie. 

Note: The writer is a dance major who performed in the spring show.