The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of how we live and work. In few places is this felt more acutely than for those who work in dance. The conditions through which dance was previously valued by society – in live encounter between dancers and audiences – are suspended. The Office for National Statistics states that the creative, arts and entertainment industries have seen a 69% decline from pre-pandemic levels. Dance After Lockdown is a research project run by the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE) at Coventry University that examines the diverse ways in which the dance industry has been disrupted by the effects of COVID-19.
The project aims to identify and harness the value of the dance industry’s responses to the conditions created by COVID-19, and to model these responses to support the development of new creative arts industries practices and policies. We are collaborating with large organisations in the sector and with individual dance artists to understand how these two strands of industry have adapted and innovated and consider the ways in which they are reimagining the sector for a post-pandemic future.
Dance After Lockdown is a pilot study running between January – April 2021