A Pandemic Reflection: The Healing Power of the Arts

Disclaimer: To protect their personal thoughts and feelings on this current virus pandemic, all Atlas artist names have been left anonymous.

In this time of unprecedented turmoil, with COVID-19 spreading every day, there is uncertainty for the future of the arts. Our reality has forever changed, the fine arts battling against this growing virus pandemic, but the arts are important as ever. During this difficult time, the arts can be used as an outlet to relieve stress and fear. However, as we must live in a world of isolation—distancing from loved ones—finding proper platforms to continue the arts while protecting health and safety has proven to be difficult.

Atlas Dance Collective has been fortunate enough to find ways to grow as a company while we strive for a “new normal” during the COVID-19 outbreak. Our company members feel that although we have expected this time of our lives to be for the worst, we have experienced pleasant surprises individually as well as a collective. When asked about their time in self-quarantine, while actively striving to participate in the arts, many of our Atlas dancers found healing and personal growth due in large to self-reflection.

During the company’s time of quarantine our dancers, choreographers, and directors found new forms of implementing the arts into their lives and the community. Atlas has stayed motivated and creative through choreographing at a distance, hosting online video conferences in place of rehearsals, inviting the community to join our company in dance technique, mediation, at-home exercise, and other artistic classes hosted live on our social media platforms, as well as other forms of artistic expression.

Two of our company members began an experimental choreographic they refer to as “speed journal writing.” While the state of Utah is actively social distancing and self-isolating, they worked on a duet choreographed to express their thoughts and feelings of this pandemic. They gave themselves fifteen minutes to write a journal entry using chosen “stand-out words” which included but were not limited to distance, panic, and toilet paper. From their writing, they participated in an improvisation coping choreography release. For the company, dance has been a place of safety and mental healing.

Another dancer and choreographer of Atlas found a new art form to express themselves and to release stress. Sequestering herself inside her small studio apartment, having an extremely limited space to dance, she found an additional voice through music. While working on her choreography, which will debut with Atlas’s upcoming show VOICES, she drew on an old and rusty skill of playing the violin to compose an original score for her choreography. She admits that the experience expressing herself in a new artistic way was eye-opening as she was able to discover a new side of herself.

While this time has proven to be overwhelming, our company has found a silver lining during this dark and difficult time. One of our dancers expressed her gratitude for having the time to reflect on the important things, including family and self-worth. This pandemic has helped our company learn new skills, such as communicating at a distance, which hasn’t been easy with movement being an intimate and kinesthetic language.

Another dancer stated, “My love of the arts and people grew stronger than ever.” She was able to find an appreciation for her friends and family and increased value for dance. What was once in easy access became suddenly scarce.

Our company members have many talents, such as writing and music, all forms of the arts that have helped us express our emotions when what we bare is too strong. An Atlas dancer said it best when he poetically wrote, “There's something about being shut in, limited and isolated that makes my head race and heart hurt. Though I may be going through the thick of it, trying to find my new center, my new normal, I find peace in knowing we are all struggling together.”

Atlas Dance Collective is a family, sharing our love of the arts with each other and the community. While we strive to protect public health and safety, we grow closer together as we share our pain and trails and lift one other through our artful endeavors. Our company members have grown as artists and friends amidst the heart-wrenching thought of losing loved ones through distance and illness. As we attempt to find our “new normal” that will share our art with the community, and as we experience drastic changes to our lives, we lean on the support of the arts and the relationships that grow through with it.

Atlas encourages everyone to find an artistic outlet. Be it dance, painting, music, or something yet unknown, express yourself and find release. Our company members can attest to the power of self-healing through the arts.

Author: Diana Clarke, Member of Atlas Dance Collective