Thread by @ooana

There have been many people pointing out that the proliferation of dancing nurses and doctor videos since the onset of global COVID19 policy has been...well...tacky. I agree, but also think there may be more going on.
🧵...

Several months ago, while still a Twitter newbie, I wrote a thread about an artist named Meyerhold. (Here it is:)

https://twitter.com/ooana/status/1330613998048473096

He was a large influence on the performance art piece I created as well. The way movement impacts and inspires people beyond just the emotional impact to the viewer isnt something that is discussed often, however we can see it throughout history.

While watching the seemingly endless dancing nurses videos, I was suddenly struck a few weeks ago by a memory; I’d seen this before...many times.

My mother is both a victim and survivor of communism. She was a performer and an actress. I have a degree in the theater arts. I have, over the years noted the ways that the performing arts are both influenced by and influence authoritarian regimes.

Performance is at its most simplified a form of story telling; even when the performance may appear to simply be something else.

It’s been over 14 months since those videos of dancing as part of the COVID19 crises began. So what story are we being told and telling? This is the question I keep asking myself. This thread is a study of that.

While patients are seen in the videos out of Wuhan, note that they are absent in the videos streaming into our homes in the west. D

There is a disconnection between the “essential workers” and everyone else.

Only a select few are encouraged and able to join each other and through music, movement and even humor find comfort in a sense of unity.

Only a select few may joyfully gather.

It’s difficult for those deemed “inessential” to understand how a crises allows the time for large choreographed and filmed dance routines.

Or why only some people are allowed to create for themselves and each other a ritualized time, space and actions.

Why only some are celebrated for celebrating.

Remember. These are “patients.”

They are not well enough to care for themselves. They are not responsible enough to care for each other without strict rules of confinement.

I’ll leave you with one more thought. It’s our time to dance.

🧶

@Studio28nyc you’ll appreciate this. Btw…great handle. Nostalgia abounds.