Coronavirus (COVID-19) Affects the Ballet World

[volcanohunter]

La Scala Ballet has been forced to postpone several performances of La Bayadère scheduled for next week because 14 company members have come down with Covid-19. La Repubblica reports that more than a quarter of the company's dancers are unvaccinated and that several of its ballet masters are anti-vaxxers.

https://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/12/10/news/alla_scala_troppi_contagi_covid_nel_balletto_salta_la_prima_de_la_bayade_re-329690437/

[pherank]

10 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

La Scala Ballet has been forced to postpone several performances of La Bayadère scheduled for next week because 14 company members have come down with Covid-19. La Repubblica reports that more than a quarter of the company's dancers are unvaccinated and that several of its ballet masters are anti-vaxxers.

https://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/12/10/news/alla_scala_troppi_contagi_covid_nel_balletto_salta_la_prima_de_la_bayade_re-329690437/

That's called doing things the old fashioned way.

[diane]

11 hours ago, pherank said:

That's called doing things the old fashioned way.

Oh, dear. 

In Germany the (former) Health Minister said, (and I translate) "... by Christmas everyone will either be vaccinated, recovered or dead." 

-d-

 

[volcanohunter]

The National Ballet of Canada, which had been selling 100% of seats for The Nutcracker, has been forced to slash capacity to 50% as of this weekend. It must be a logistical and financial nightmare. Sales for remaining shows have been suspended while the company tries to figure out how to re-seat ticket holders.

https://national.ballet.ca/Productions/The-Nutcracker

[Helene]

Oh, that is going to be so hard

[AB'sMom]

I was recently on an international flight and overhead a conversation between the two strangers seated behind me. Apparently the woman is an opera singer and had flown to Amsterdam to perform. Two weeks later she was going to be in Madrid. The man next to her commented about how her job was so much more interesting than the typical 9-5. Her friendly tone briefly dropped when she responded, “How many days have you worked since COVID began?” It’s terrible to see things starting to shut down again for live performers.

[YouOverThere]

They are starting to be cancellations on Broadway and with touring shows. Here in DC, the first 2 weeks of Ain't Too Proud at the Kennedy Center have been cancelled due to 1 or more members of the company testing positive (despite everyone having been vaccinated).

Edited December 16, 2021 by YouOverThere

[Peg]

And Alvin Ailey cancelled performances last night and just announced that their remaining performances (through Sunday) at City Center are cancelled. 

[ABT Fan]

49 minutes ago, Peg said:

And Alvin Ailey cancelled performances last night and just announced that their remaining performances (through Sunday) at City Center are cancelled. 

oh no! I was thinking of going.

[pherank]

3 hours ago, YouOverThere said:

They are starting to be cancellations on Broadway and with touring shows. Here in DC, the first 2 weeks of Ain't Too Proud at the Kennedy Center have been cancelled due to 1 or more members of the company testing positive (despite everyone having been vaccinated).

Vaccines don't protect a person from exposure to a virus, but they do (in most cases) guarantee only a mild illness. Only N95 masks are really good at keeping viruses out of your respiratory system. But many dancers were lately rehearsing without masks, and certainly performing without masks, so there's going to be plenty of opportunities to pass along germs to anyone nearby. Whether we like it or not, this virus is here to stay.

[aurora]

33 minutes ago, pherank said:

Vaccines don't protect a person from exposure to a virus, but they do (in most cases) guarantee only a mild illness. Only N95 masks are really good at keeping viruses out of your respiratory system. But many dancers were lately rehearsing without masks, and certainly performing without masks, so there's going to be plenty of opportunities to pass along germs to anyone nearby. Whether we like it or not, this virus is here to stay.

This is not correct.

Vaccines don't protect against "exposure" obviously. But they do protect against getting the virus. Do they protect entirely? No. That's why there are (many with omicron) so-called breakthrough cases.

This is not, however, to say that you are not protected to a much greater degree against contracting the virus if you have been vaccinated.

[Helene]

I don't see a contradiction.  Masks and vaccines serve two different purposes, the former to limit exposure, and the latter to protect against exposure.  (Both try to limit impact to others in their own ways)  And I don't know any scientist who has predicted that the virus (in its mutations) will be eradicated -- it's either a pandemic or it becomes endemic -- and, unless they are all wrong, it is here to stay.

 

[nanushka]

Medically, exposure typically means (potential or probable) contact, I believe, so I'd say vaccines neither limit nor protect against exposure. Vaccines protect against contraction; masks limit exposure.

Edited December 17, 2021 by nanushka

[Balletwannabe]

I'm SO glad student dancers are having the opportunity to do Nutcracker this month, because I do not see good things coming for Winter.  

[Helene]

A vaccine does limit exposure to others if it means that the innoculated person cannot spread the disease -- which has not been the case with Covid-19 -- or is less contageous and/or contageous for a shorter period.

[nanushka]

Yes, right — exposure following contraction. I was referring to exposure of the vaccinated person, sorry to have been unclear. I meant that vaccines don't protect against exposure of the vaccinated person (as @pherank said above), but they do protect against contraction (as @aurora said above); and thus they limit further exposure, contraction, serious illness and/or death of others.

Edited December 17, 2021 by nanushka

[pherank]

9 hours ago, aurora said:

This is not correct.

Vaccines don't protect against "exposure" obviously. But they do protect against getting the virus. Do they protect entirely? No. That's why there are (many with omicron) so-called breakthrough cases.

This is not, however, to say that you are not protected to a much greater degree against contracting the virus if you have been vaccinated.

To be clear, ultimately it is our own immune systems that are doing the protecting. I'm not sure how you're defining "getting the virus", but to me, once a virus is inside my body, I've "got" the virus, and can pass it on. How my body and immune system respond to that virus is another matter. There are various scenarios that can play out.

 A local news station was interviewing a mother outside a school the other day, and she was complaining about new mask mandates in California. She remarked, "so what was the point of all those vaccinations?" (if the children have to wear masks again). I was thinking, is it possible for people like this to still know nothing about masks and vaccines after 1 1/2 years? It's hard to remember how long it has been, but it certainly feels like years.
 

7 hours ago, nanushka said:

Yes, right — exposure following contraction. I was referring to exposure of the vaccinated person, sorry to have been unclear. I meant that vaccines don't protect against exposure of the vaccinated person (as @pherank said above), but they do protect against contraction (as @aurora said above); and thus they limit further exposure, contraction, serious illness and/or death of others.

I agree with this. And so we continue to need both the vaccinations and the effective mask wearing (no junk masks) if we're going to control the spread at all. However, it does seem like humans in the West are more and more fed up with mask wearing and are willing to just roll the dice. In Asia people have been wearing masks of their own volition for many years (for various reasons). There' s not so much of a stigma there. I'd say it's the psychological game that we're losing here - rather than take things for what they are, and working with it, there's been an over reliance on fear and anger to drive the situation.

Edited December 17, 2021 by pherank

[volcanohunter]

The National Ballet of Japan has dropped works by William Forsythe and Hans van Manen from an upcoming program, presumably because repetiteurs can't enter the country. The visiting conductor has also been replaced.

https://www.nntt.jac.go.jp/english/news/ballet/yms-2122-change.html

Thanks to @naomikage for flagging this.

Tours by the National Ballet of Ukraine this month and the Stuttgart Ballet in March have been canceled. 

[volcanohunter]

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal have also been hit with a new 50% capacity limit during the height of Nutcracker season.

This year the company has been presenting a modified program without young dancers, featuring a new ballet by AD Ivan Cavallari and the second act of The Nutcracker.

[California]

16 hours ago, pherank said:

 But many dancers were lately rehearsing without masks, and certainly performing without masks, so there's going to be plenty of opportunities to pass along germs to anyone nearby. Whether we like it or not, this virus is here to stay.

It worries me when I see social media rehearsal clips of dancers skimping on mask protection. One of my favorites, Aran Bell, is too often seen with his under his chin. I hope company management is reminding everybody about cancellations of Broadway shows and sporting events due to spread of COVID.

 

[Balletwannabe]

53 minutes ago, California said:

It worries me when I see social media rehearsal clips of dancers skimping on mask protection. One of my favorites, Aran Bell, is too often seen with his under his chin. I hope company management is reminding everybody about cancellations of Broadway shows and sporting events due to spread of COVID.

 

But how silly is it to wear a mask with a dance partner and then a couple of hours later perform with that same partner without a mask??  Sometimes masks makes sense, and sometimes they make absolutely no sense.  Another example...yesterday I was at a concert and there were like 100 children on stage, shoulder to shoulder, they wore the masks to walk up to the stage, and then took them all off to sing together. 

[Helene]

Exposure is cumulative, and ventilation plays a large part.  Ventilation in a studio where dancers spend hours together can be significantly inferior to ventilation in a theater.  Pacific Northwest Ballet has had many Instagram live/regular stories/posts as well as mainstream media stories where you can see that dancers mask back up as soon as they're in the wings.

[Lauren]

I understand (as much as a non- medical person can) about the vaccines and masks- so don't need anything explained about how important they are. But I will say, that as someone who is skeptical of the value of both...these cancellations are doing quite a bit of harm to the "vaccine and mask = safety" cause. To be honest, it seems really, really pointless.... since clearly people are getting infected anyway..... and shows are cancelling...anyway.  Yes, I know the vaccine, is meant to keep people from getting seriously ill (but it doesn't sound like there have been any cases of SERIOUS illness in these theaters that have cancelled shows). But if you aren't worried about this (for whatever reason)- these cancellations indicate there is no reason to be vaccinated; as many people are only vaccinating because it allows them to do things. If they can't do them anyway, and don't want it...there's no reason to bother.  It seems that "abundance of caution" is going to become the next "wear a mask for others". I live in a country where masks are not expected during exercise, and dancers in our national theater do not wear them when dancing (they are meant to wear them going into the theater, but there is a lot of chin wearing). Very little testing unless required for travel or someone is actually ill. We have had a total of zero cancelled performances. Hospitals not overwhelmed. I point this out only to make the point that there IS another way- and also that as dance is so international, many dancers in non- US countries are not wearing masks in studios, so their social media will reflect that- they aren't breaking rules.

[Helene]

10 minutes ago, Lauren said:

I point this out only to make the point that there IS another way- and also that as dance is so international, many dancers in non- US countries are not wearing masks in studios, so their social media will reflect that- they aren't breaking rules.

The dancers specifically cited here are in the US, where there are be federal rules, state rules, local rules, and employer-based rules about mask-wearing.

[Balletwannabe]

2 hours ago, Helene said:

Exposure is cumulative, and ventilation plays a large part.  Ventilation in a studio where dancers spend hours together can be significantly inferior to ventilation in a theater.  Pacific Northwest Ballet has had many Instagram live/regular stories/posts as well as mainstream media stories where you can see that dancers mask back up as soon as they're in the wings.

They're breathing heavily.  Unless they're wearing an n95, I'm still going to use the word "silly" to describe how little these masks are doing in this situation, if someone is actually infected.  They're also taking them down to drink water... In the poorly ventilated studios... For hours together.