Beatriz’s proletariat dance studio
As I try to recall the simple and large acts of generosity I have experienced these past two years, especially this past year during the Coronovirus epidemic, I am surprised to discover that there are too many events to even numerate. But one that I’ve alluded to in several of my essay stands out to me especially in light of the times that we’re living in. As you all may or may not know, I’ve been taking a Barre ballet class for the past two months. The class is conducted via Zoom and it is the one thing that keeps me sane during the week! It consists of my quirky ballet teacher — a 30-something millennial who was trained at the CalArts in Los Angeles and works at the House of Yes in NYC, a Brooklyn-based arts collective that hosts an array of artistic shows and endeavors during the week, including Circus Arts!
Every week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, I eagerly turn on my computer screen and am faced with an array of faces via Zoom — usually ranging from five to 12 women. I don’t think the class is just limited to women, although we have yet had one male participant! And my ballet teacher, or Beatriz BB, as she is also called, has generously offered free classes via eventbrite or at a discounted rate for frontline workers and struggling artists during the Coronovirus epidemic. For a struggling artist like me, this has been a god-send as I can look forward to ballet classes two times a week without the pressure of high costs that are usually associated with taking these classes. And the best part of all is that Beatriz is approachable and makes ballet and dancing and stretching and the occasional yoga poses fun and easy! Usually, at the end of class, the Zoom chat window is filled with accolades from the appreciative students like me who are in awe of her flexibility and friendly teaching style and of our own growth in this art form.
There are participants from NYC, Chicago (including yours truly), Cleveland, OH, to Canada! It’s comforting to know that I will not be judged during or at the end of class as I go through the series of moves (plie, tendu, releve, fondu, saute, demi-plies, developpe, attitude) as we all become one-bound through the portals of our computer screens for an hour, trying to learn the moves and usually sweating bullets at the end of our virtual classes. I’ve also pleasantly found that these classes give me the room to ruminate over the pressing issues of the day before or the underlying layer of concern and stress I feel about this epidemic that is raging across the land.
This past Wednesday in particular, thoughts about the intersection of ballet and feminism were running through my head as I turned on my Zoom screen and tried to concentrate on the series of plies and tendus and demi-plies and releves that my ballet teacher was reiterating. Ballet and feminism — go figure (think about the irony of this 4oo-year old form of art which expects the dancers’ bodies to bend and twirl and contort in certain ways and the women’s rights movement!). In a virtual class of sweaty women, using our kitchen chairs or kitchen counters or barres or furniture fixtures as our structures holding us steady and proud, I can also remain and stand proudly while ruminating about all the inconsistencies and contradictions and misogyny that is inherent in Life because I am a woman or because of the fact that Coronovirus has especially affected the low-income and minority populations, revealing the health and economic inequities that are inherent in the U.S.
So yes, Beatriz and this virtual ballet class conducted via Zoom are like gifts from heaven and I am the appreciative recipient. I’ve read articles about how the Coronovirus epidemic has benefitted the wealthy professionals and the affluent — some working people have been taking advantage of the working-at-home situations to take more vacations or relocate to locales with better weather, for example. According to an article written by Eve Peyser in the New York Times (December 14, 2020), the noncommercial real estate market throughout the country has actually been having “a bit of a ‘bonkers’ moment. It further stated, “the average price for a home in October 2020 is 6.6 percent greater than in September 2019. And the Lake Tahoe area is particularly hot. The average price for a home in these Nevada-California borderlands is reportedly up 17.7 percent from 2019, while there are 30 percent fewer homes on the market.”
In the midst of these contradictory times, it is comforting to know that people like Beatriz BB are stepping up to help those who are most in need of it — frontline workers and unemployed artists. She teaches from her Home Studio in Brooklyn or sometimes alternates to other locations such as her parents’ home or to her dance studio where she was trained. There is no fancy equipment, no expensive barre, no typical ballet studio-style mirrors. In fact, my teacher has made the barre out of some furniture pieces she bought from IKEA, as she proudly told us on the first day of class. And from the Zoom window, I can get a glimpse of her old ballet shoes and dance-wear hanging from a hook on her background wall. That is how egalitarian or proletariat this class is! With her dance training and her work experience, I’m sure Beatriz can get away with charging exorbitant fees for wealthy and affluent clients — people who are able and willing to pay for a trained dance teacher! After all, most private yoga sessions nowadays charge at least $200~$250 for an hour class. But thanks to my dance teacher’s selflessness and appreciation for frontline workers and starving artists like me, I can reap the benefits of the arts and being enrolled in a dance class twice a week that enables me to sweat like crazy and destress and enter a world of dancing where I can experience bliss, joy and an abundant shower of dopamine released by my brain, albeit for an hour a day.