Short Film “Surviving Covid NINETEEN” COMING SOON

March 13th is a day in my life that goes down in infamy. I will not reflect on the trauma of this past year in giving COVID-19 any more power than it has taken from us. I will however say, “Thank you, COVID-19!”

As I scrolled through my social media updates it seemed that March 13th was a day that was filled with many performing arts events that included either myself or my daughter, Juliet. Pictures of shows and productions such as Cinderella, Seussical, The Wizard of Oz, dance recitals, and trips to Disneyland seemed to be the common theme on this day, March 13th.

Last year, COVID-19 #2020 tried to take my beloved March 13th from me, and I didn’t appreciate that one bit.

So, I decided to turn the bad into good. I opened a private performing arts academy– as you know– but I also found myself on a new venture I never would have expected to find myself on. With so many friends & family members affected by COVID-19– loss of jobs, decades of work erased, identity & purpose destroyed, and depression taking hold– I found myself newly inspired to give a voice to the silent unspoken pandemic. But how? Our stages were shut down and our theaters were closed with no promise of new reopening dates. How could I bring awareness to this serious issue??

Well, I began a project with a current dance student of mine which simply started out as a simple dance film that I was going to upload to YouTube and sparkle up a bit, but then I realized that wasn’t good enough for me. This project required a larger audience– people need to see this and feel heard and seen. While I continued to reflect and meditate on the dance film, I realized that the story was standing right in front of me– the story of my dance student and the pain she was, and is, going through with studio and theater shutdowns.

Her reality consists of dancing within the confines of her 7 ft x 10 ft room– with furniture that limits her movement. Her reality is recognizing how her skills are diminishing with no real in person instruction or environment to continue to challenge and mentor her. Her reality is acknowledging that a lifetime of work seemingly now has no place or purpose in this world because her skill requires gatherings that could further spread the infection of a deadly pandemic. Quite a large load to carry on the shoulders of one so young… so…     I made a film.

First and foremost, I do not pretend to even call myself a filmmaker. I am the furthest thing from it. I didn’t go to school to learn about it. Honestly, the technical portion of it is extremely overwhelming and frustrating. I didn’t know anything about ANYTHING involving filmmaking, but I’ll tell you what– I can say I am a good student and a firm believer in believing you can do anything you set your mind to. I had a vision, a story to tell, and the film literally wrote itself.

I would however call myself a storyteller. My choreography has always been built that way and so that vision simply just transferred to how I wanted it perceived on film. This film is special– one you should give 8.22 seconds to watch. It is important to recognize the unspoken story of so many hurting artists. This short film is based on a culmination of true events during the pandemic shutdown– ones of many of my personal students– and it deserves your support and attention.

If you have any performing artists as friends– reach out. Let them know you understand their pain and support them through this very difficult journey.

*the premiere of this short film will not be release until a later date*

*trailer coming soon!*

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