Dance Classes Find New Spaces to Move Amidst Pandemic
When the professors of ODU's Dance Program realized they couldn't safely teach normally during the fall 2020 semester due to COVID-19, they sprang to work to find new ways to provide instruction with different campus resources. Since the rooms in the Diehn Center for the Performing Arts weren't large enough to accomodate social distancing, professors reached out to the university's biggest space: the Chartway Arena in the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
"We have been in the arena all semester," said James Morrow, assistant professor of dance. "It's been working out great. Everyone at the arena has been extremely accommodating and generous with their time to make this semester a success with our students."
He continued, "This came about because Marilyn Marloff [professor and Dance Program director] worked nonstop this summer to get dance somewhere where we could have some face-to-face classes. Everyday Megan Thompson, [associate professor of dance] Marilyn and myself would bounce ideas off each other and then Marilyn would attempt to bring these "solutions" to the institution. We thought about outdoor spaces with a tent, the parking garages, there are places in the football stadium, and somehow Marilyn was able to get ahold of Chartway and made it happen. She is really the person who made it all happen."
Modern Dance 3/4 classes dance in the Chartway Arena, led by assistant professor James Morrow.
Photos by Mariah Johnson, graduate assistant in the College of Arts & Letters