The need for social distancing is putting unprecedented strain on arts venues and organizations that normally rely on the ability of performers and audiences to share physical space. But the challenge to find alternative ways to teach skills and engage the public has led to innovative applications of digital technologies. These seem likely to reshape cultural offerings post-pandemic.
Two months ago, in a roundup of local resources for distance-learning, it was noted that the Vanaver Caravan was among those organizations now making creative use of Zoom for dance instruction. It seems a natural progression for youngsters whose parents grew up on Jane Fonda’s workout videos. But with today’s computer technology, there’s the capacity for interactivity, questions, feedback. Better yet, remote recording means that people can learn from masters of various different styles of world dance teaching from their own homes.
That’s an appealing prospect for the Caravan, whose reputation since Bill and Livia Vanaver first came to Ulster County in the mid-1970s has largely been built on multicultural immersion in music and dance. As a duo and with various ensembles and companies, they’ve spent decades touring the world, soaking up regional styles in the performing arts, and exploring the ways they radiate out to influence the cultures of other lands. They bring home what they’ve learned and share it with audiences and students of all ages. They’ve established relationships with colleagues in many countries, who sometimes come to the Hudson Valley to teach a lucky few.
A global experience
With online classes spurred by the need to self-isolate, it has suddenly become much easier to take classes with these masters. “That’s one of the positive things that has come out of Covid 19, the possibility to do these classes virtually and make it a truly global experience,” says Miranda ten Broeke, director of the Vanaver Caravan’s summer programs: CaravanKids (ages four to eight) and SummerDance (nine and up).
This year, students who sign up for SummerDance will have opportunities to learn dance styles from master teachers based in New York City, Vancouver, India and Australia, as well as locally based troupe members. There will even be one-on-one lessons for each participant.
But Livia and ten Broeke (known as Moo since she took her first CaravanKids lesson at the age of four, and involved with the troupe ever since) are adamant that these dynamic, multifaceted programs aren’t going to be reduced to webinars this year. They’re committed to making the classes an “opportunity to detox from technology.”
“It’s so interesting working with the little little ones on Zoom. But they’re getting Zoomed out, with all the demands from their schools,” Moo notes. The summer programs are her favorites, she says, because typically “The kids are so much less distracted by what they’re mandated to do during the school year.”
Typically, the two-week CaravanKids program and the three-week SummerDance program (the latter in its 29th year) involve a broad array of activities that do more than enhance the students’ technical dance skills. For example, one instructor, Nina Jirka, formerly with the Kremlin Ballet, is “very nature-oriented,” according to Livia, and will take her pupils on a “Ballet Trail” hike in the Shawangunks, where kids can improvise to express their responses to their spectacular surroundings.
Though such an outing might not be possible this year, the tradition is being kept on the back burner. It will be revived if participation is deemed absolutely safe in terms of possible contagion.
Less inhibited on camera
These summer programs normally culminate in a group performance at an outdoor venue – usually Stone Mountain Farm, the home of the Center for Symbolic Studies in Tillson. Opus 40 in Saugerties is another favorite spot, says Livia, for whom site-specific choreography is a particular passion. Outings to dance at one or the other, or perhaps Hasbrouck Park or the Peace Park in New Paltz, have not been entirely ruled out for later in the summer, as more public spaces reopen to the public. What they are calling a “social dis(dance) picnic” with a deejay playing music could conceivably still happen.
If the students cannot gather to dance in person, they’ll be encouraged to set up their laptops outdoors at their homes, explore their back yards and practice in the open air as much as possible. And in lieu of the final group performance, they’ll learn how to tape themselves dancing, to be edited into a composite video. “The odd thing is that some kids are more uninhibited on camera than in person,” Livia observes.
Another annual tradition is a Fairy Hike, where children follow clues to find some member of the Caravan community dressed up in fairy regalia to dance and interact with the students in character. Making masks and costumes and props from found materials is a component of the cross-disciplinary activities leading up to the “live fairy” encounter.
Even if they’re not able to experience that in person this year, Moo is determined to ensure that they will fully replicate a typical summer program via “a magical mystery package” of ingredients for arts activities, to be shipped to each participant who signs up by July 1. Among other treasures (all purchased from local artists), these will include coloring books; craft materials for making fairy dolls; a blank Caravan Passport where each child will draw a self-portrait, “tell us about their superpowers and the adventures they go on,” instructions for scavenger hunts, Moo has a deep love for scavenger hunts. “Kids’ week is everything I want and love about childhood,” she says, “the ability to express yourself and play.”
Improvise in your life
That focus on self-expression – “learning how to access your own dances that live inside you,” in Livia’s words – is fundamental to the Caravan’s teaching philosophy. While these classes are useful opportunities for serious young dancers to improve their technical skills and learn new dance forms from various parts of the world, Livia and Moo emphasize that even beginners can benefit and have fun. “We have a lot of students that have two left feet, and we love them,” says Moo. “This is a perfect space for someone who is a little clumsy or a little shy …. It’s for anybody.”
No one gets turned away on account of economic hardship. Financial aid is available through the Betsey Bergman Scholarship Fund. With the business slowdowns taking a big bite out of many families’ summer activity budgets this year, tuition has been reduced across the board, from the usual $950 for the three-week program to $695. A single week costs $250. “We know that times are hard right now, and want this to be available for people,” Moo says.
Both note that there’s something to be gained from being forced to rethink how these classes are structured, carving out new directions that will endure even after the pandemic has faded. “We look for these opportunities in times like these,” says Livia. “All the faculty are excited to work on all aspects of creativity that we wouldn’t normally have time for.”
“Flexibility is our main trait right now,” Moo agrees. “This will be changing our sense of ‘normal’ for years going forward.”
Livia sums it all up philosophically: “You have to improvise in your life. It’s a wonderful roadmap for life.”
CaravanKids: Adventure will be offered from July 13 to 17 and July 20 to 24. SummerDance: Creative Immersion will be offered from July 27 to 31, August 3 to 7 and August 10 to 14. To learn more or to register for the Vanaver Caravan’s summer programs, visit https://vanavercaravan.org/summerdance and https://vanavercaravan.org/caravankids.
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