New York Times: Dance Companies Take Baby Steps Back to Rehearsal

By Alex Marshall

28 May 2020

Eight dancers from the Ballet du Rhin were partway through a class at their studio in Mulhouse, eastern France, recently, when the company’s artistic director decided to step things up.

The dancers had been doing gentle exercises at the barre. Then, the director, Bruno Bouché, asked them to perform a short routine, heavy on pirouettes, in socially distanced pairs.

Alice Pernão, 22, one of the first dancers to try, performed the spins with the relish of a dancer moving her limbs fully for the first time in months.

But as soon as she finished, Ms. Pernão performed a little extra routine that dancers worldwide might soon have to get used to: She flipped her face mask off an ear, and, breathing heavily, rushed back to her place at the barre to gulp down some water.

She then disinfected her hands with gel, put the mask back on, and tried to catch her breath for the next exercise.

Read the full New York Times article here.