Inside out: Experience of pandemic transformed into dance  

Students from Cork's New Moon Youth Dance Company create choreography to reflect how they were affected by Covid-19

Covid has put major limits on physical contact between dancers.

“They can’t hug or lift or hold each other – there’s a huge amount of physicality in dancing that we’re now not allowed to do,” says Cork-based choreographer and teacher of dance Tina Horan.

Passionate about nature and dance, Horan has devised ways at her New Moon Youth Dance Company for her students to connect in a pandemic-challenged world. With students starting from as young as age five, they very often stay with Horan until their late teens.

Blathnaid Cheetham, advanced senior dancer at New Moon Dance Company.

She has always encouraged dancers – as they grow and develop – to create their own pieces of choreography. This came into its own this autumn as she and 12 students in the senior company (average age 14-16) created a piece of choreography for the Irish Youth Dance Festival.

Titled ‘Me, The Pandemic, How It Changed Me’, each dancer created a choreographic piece reflecting the ‘me’ – the uniqueness of them. “For the ‘pandemic’ element, each dancer created a response to how they went through the pandemic. Some were on the ground, crawling, while others were turning, jumping with joy because they had loved being at home doing their own thing,” explains Horan.

The third element saw each dancer do a choreographic response to how the pandemic changed them. “We had a discussion before creating the movement. It highlighted that people now really knew the value of family and the value of being able to see friends.”

Belle Cotter, advanced senior dancer at New Moon Dance Company.

Because the dancers can’t connect with physical touch, Horan got them to learn each other’s pieces. “By doing that, they were communicating: ‘I hear you, I see you, I get what you’re feeling’."

Horan finds being allowed to dance freely – guided by their own instinctive movements – is a big confidence booster for students. “They become independent, creative thinkers. They may decide to raise their hands high or drop to the floor.  Constantly making these choices empowers them. And they get a chance to truly express their feelings.”

Lydia Walshe, advanced senior dancer at New Moon Dance Company.

With a background in psychology, Horan’s degree thesis focused on the effects of movement on people’s feelings of wellbeing and mental alertness. “I’ve noticed people who dance on a regular basis have a more positive outlook on life and use more positive language about themselves,” she says.

• View ‘Me, The Pandemic, How It Changed Me’, with music created by 16-year-old Cork composer Sam Healy: exa.mn/NewMoon 

Tina Horan, choreographer and teacher of dance Tina Horan.

Tina Horan on dance benefits for children:

• Dance is a mode of expression for children/young people – through movement they express what they’re feeling.
• Confidence grows. “One mother whose child never spoke very much said dance had given her daughter a voice.”
• There’s a social aspect. “Children develop beautiful friendships, many of them for life.”