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Before COVID-19, 17-year-old Elaine Li was ready to leap into life after high school. However, she was at a fork in the road, questioning whether to go to university or try auditioning for ballet schools. She had been dancing since she was three and was spending some 15 hours a week at the Classical Ballet Centre Canberra, taking classes after school and on Saturdays. When COVID-19 hit, it not only put a stop to time in the studio, but it also made the decision about Elaine’s future for her. “It pushed me towards pursuing academic life,” Elaine said. “Everything was up in the air as to where the arts would be left off after COVID.” Elaine’s future as a professional ballet dancer was, obviously, not the only thing COVID-19 had cancelled, particularly in the arts and entertainment sector. This month alone it was announced the National Folk Festival would not go ahead in 2021 and last week the ACT government announced next year’s National Multicultural Festival had been postponed. The government has also scrapped the New Year’s Eve fireworks and Australia Day celebrations. The announcements have ensured the year of adaptation and uncertainty would leak into 2021. While Elaine’s professional ballet career may not go ahead, the teenager still dances in her spare time – albeit a little differently to what it was like during pre-COVID times. READ MORE: During lockdown, just as school and work was confined to Zoom, so were ballet classes. For Elaine that meant dancing in her two-by-three-metre bedroom while trying not to run into her bed. “You were mostly working for yourself and it was interesting because realistically no one was really watching you,” she says. “That was quite interesting because I feel as dancers a lot of the time you’re looking at how you present to other people and how you look from the front. “It’s very much about what other people are seeing.” When Canberra started to return to a sense of normal again, Elaine returned to the dance studio. The barres would be regularly sanitised and studios cleaned between classes. The biggest difference, however, was Elaine and her fellow dancers now had to be socially distant when they danced. “As a result of that we were working on a new routine that was based around being able to social distance while learning the choreography,” she said. “Obviously with a lot of dances it’s teamwork and dancing together and working together and just being in the space together. “Now, it’s different because we were in the space together but we weren’t in a way because we had to be distanced.”
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Before COVID-19, 17-year-old Elaine Li was ready to leap into life after high school.
However, she was at a fork in the road, questioning whether to go to university or try auditioning for ballet schools.
She had been dancing since she was three and was spending some 15 hours a week at the Classical Ballet Centre Canberra, taking classes after school and on Saturdays.
When COVID-19 hit, it not only put a stop to time in the studio, but it also made the decision about Elaine’s future for her.
“It pushed me towards pursuing academic life,” Elaine said.
“Everything was up in the air as to where the arts would be left off after COVID.”
Elaine’s future as a professional ballet dancer was, obviously, not the only thing COVID-19 had cancelled, particularly in the arts and entertainment sector.
Elaine Li’s plans changed during the pandemic. Picture: Karleen Minney
The announcements have ensured the year of adaptation and uncertainty would leak into 2021.
While Elaine’s professional ballet career may not go ahead, the teenager still dances in her spare time – albeit a little differently to what it was like during pre-COVID times.
During lockdown, just as school and work was confined to Zoom, so were ballet classes.
For Elaine that meant dancing in her two-by-three-metre bedroom while trying not to run into her bed.
“You were mostly working for yourself and it was interesting because realistically no one was really watching you,” she says.
“That was quite interesting because I feel as dancers a lot of the time you’re looking at how you present to other people and how you look from the front.
“It’s very much about what other people are seeing.”
Elaine Li. Picture: Karleen Minney
When Canberra started to return to a sense of normal again, Elaine returned to the dance studio.
The barres would be regularly sanitised and studios cleaned between classes.
The biggest difference, however, was Elaine and her fellow dancers now had to be socially distant when they danced.
“As a result of that we were working on a new routine that was based around being able to social distance while learning the choreography,” she said.
“Obviously with a lot of dances it’s teamwork and dancing together and working together and just being in the space together.
“Now, it’s different because we were in the space together but we weren’t in a way because we had to be distanced.”
- This article is part of the Displaced Artists Project. The Canberra Times has reached out to artists in different fields to see how COVID-19 has impacted them.
