The oldest resident organization at Keene State College’s Redfern Arts Center is coming home.
Now in its 35th year, the N.H. Dance Institute recently began preparing for its “Event of the Year,” an annual performance that typically follows nearly eight months of rehearsals but has been heavily adapted for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Keene-based nonprofit, which offers youth dance programs in the Monadnock Region, was forced to cancel the performance last spring because of the pandemic. That decision devastated the organization, according to NHDI Executive Director Sally Malay.
“There were a lot of broken hearts, both from the kids and the staff, because many of them have been invested and engaged in the program for many years,” she said in July.
Last Saturday – several months after it usually begins preparing for the Event of the Year – NHDI kicked off rehearsals for this year’s edition, “Rise Like A Phoenix.” The June 12 performance at the Redfern, where the institute has performed since its creation in 1986, will be unlike previous versions in many ways.
Whereas about 300 children typically participate in the Event of the Year, Malay said NHDI has limited enrollment to just under 100 to observe social-distancing guidelines during rehearsals and the performance.
Rather than having an open registration, the organization invited students who had been enrolled in the 2020 Event of the Year to participate this year, she said. Many of the families have been excited and grateful that NHDI is offering the program again, according to Malay.
“The children … have had a traumatic and challenging past nine months,” she said. “They’re excited to get back in the classroom, to have the engagement.”
Saturday’s rehearsals began with a mythology lesson: NHDI Artistic Director Kristen Leach said she explained to students that the phoenix motif in this year’s theme illustrates their resilience in navigating the pandemic. She said students responded well to the message.
“Each person has had some disappointment attached to the pandemic,” she said. “In the most severe case, they’ve lost a loved one. Or they’ve lost opportunities; they’ve missed family; they’ve had special events canceled. Whatever their ash is that they’re rising out of, it’s specific and unique to each individual child.”
NHDI is determined to have a live audience for its flagship event.
The current plan is to have four hour-long recitals, with 120 audience members spaced out around the Redfern’s main theater for each performance, according to Leach.
That would leave many seats empty, however, since the auditorium has a capacity of 572, according to its website. To fill the void, Leach said NHDI may have a fundraiser where families can buy a cardboard cutout of a relative unable to attend the performance and – inspired by a similar arrangement at the Super Bowl – place it in an empty seat.
“We want a full house for the kids,” she said.
Leach also intends to use a visual misdirection on stage, where only 16 dancers will be allowed at a time: To create the appearance of a fuller ensemble, she plans to project recordings of the other participants behind the on-stage group.
As in past years, the performance will be accompanied by a live orchestra. But in another COVID-era twist, Leach said, the musicians will be in the Redfern’s adjacent Wright Theatre and have their pieces amplified live into the main theater.
Rehearsals for the Event of the Year will also look different.
NHDI usually holds weekday classes at a dozen area schools, but Malay said that plan is infeasible because many districts have been using remote or hybrid instruction and have switched between models in response to COVID-19 cases in the community.
Instead, the organization plans to hold Saturday rehearsals for most of its participants at Winchester School, which Malay said is the only public school willing to host NHDI this spring. (Students at Winchester School and St. Joseph Regional School, a Catholic school in Keene, will continue to have weekday rehearsals.)
In an effort to prevent COVID-19 transmission, each rehearsal session will be limited to 15 students, according to Malay. She said participants will need to pass an online health screening before class and will also be required to wear masks at all times. NHDI used similar protocols during its outdoor “pop-up” series last summer and at classes it held in the fall at Stonewall Farm in Keene and at Camp Spofford.
Even as the organization moves ahead with its 2021 programming, it continues to battle a financially challenging 2020.
A fundraiser NHDI launched in September, hoping to raise $35,000, had drawn about one-third of that sum as of early February, according to Malay, though she added that existing supporters are “doing as much as they can” to back the organization.
Malay also said the recent appointments of four new board members – Keene State administrator Kirsti Sandy, radio host Steve Hamel, attorney Peter Heed and Savings Bank of Walpole officer Kimberly Drone – demonstrate NHDI’s commitment to the region.
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