The Hyde Park School of Dance (HPSD) has been open on the South Side since 1993, but like most institutions, things look a little different this year. As a non-profit school, HPSD is governed by a board of directors, some of who are doctors at the University of Chicago. The impact of the coronavirus and rumors of the impending shutdown were discussed and the decision was made to close the school on March 14—a few days before an executive order issued by Gov. Pritzker closed all K-12 schools in the state.

I started listening to Phish again.

Phish was the first “cool” band I listened to. I grew up on classical and classic rock, feeling the equivalent weight and cultural relevance of Beethoven and the Beatles. It wasn’t until I started listening to Phish in high school that those two sonic worlds magically collided. I was totally hooked. Bad pun.

We are over five months into “shut down” due to the COVID-19 outbreak, precariously perched between Phase 3 and Phase 4 of re-opening. It was just announced that Chicago Public Schools will be fully remote for the start of the school year on Sept. 8 through the first quarter. The country is in full tilt mode where news alerts generate more questions than definitive answers. But there is a silver lining in all this pandemic uncertainty: the dance community has shifted, adjusted and gotten creative to keep things moving.

Regardless of how we once defined a dance performance, current world circumstances are forcing artists to reevaluate the concept with social distancing guidelines in mind. In an effort to maintain creative momentum, Chicago Tap Theatre—founded in 2002 by Mark Yonally—is dedicating itself to the innovative and collaborative nature of a livestream tap performance. 

Navigating new spaces—physical, psychological and political—is nothing new for the Space Movement Project (TSMP), but COVID-19 has thrust this troupe of six dancers into new spaces they had little expectation of exploring through dance: their own homes.