PITTSFIELD, Maine — The arts are slowly making their way back into Mainers' lives as dances, plays, and exhibits will soon be open for everyone's enjoyment again.
Boys and girls who are part of the summer intensive Bossov Ballet program at the Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield are finally back practicing what makes them happy: dancing. These dancers practice five days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Both artistic director Natalya Gelman and students are celebrating the return to a traditional theater setting after many had to use their kitchen tables to practice this past pandemic year.
"It's such an interactive art where the most important piece is the fact that you are doing it together, so the energy that you feel in the classroom can't be replicated at home at your kitchen table," dancer Annie Street said.
"This year, this summer, I see them more engaged with themselves to the profession that they chose, which is to be classical dancers," Gelman said.
Gelman said she is happy to see a full return of students at the intensive four-week training school she teaches.
"This is a pre-professional company, and it is important to have that consistency as you said, so that was the biggest challenge, not to have the students every time, every day as we normally do," she said.
Ballet is just one of the many art forms starting to get back on its feet after a year of hiatus. David Greenham works for the Maine Art Commission, a state agency that encourages the arts in Maine.
"Particularly the arts are struggling to recover," Greenham said. "It's so much about planning, it's so much about rehearsal, it's not spontaneous work and so it does take time."
"Being at home was very difficult because how do you practice bar, center, jumps, in your kitchen," dancer Taylor Pronovost said.
For Mexican citizen Jose Porras, he wasn't able to practice at all in his home country so he doubted if he should continue it.
"I was going to quit dancing, and I didn't dance for one year and a half because there were no options. Everything was closed so I think this year, it's a blessing," said Porras.
Porras said he realized his happiness is tied to dancing and is happy and excited to be in Maine doing what he most loves. That's something Annie Street echoes.
"It feels like I'm fulfilling my purpose when I dance," Street said.
Performances will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, July 30 and at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the Collins Center for the Arts, inside the University of Maine in Orono.
Bossov Ballet Theatre at Maine Central Institute is both a performing company and an international pre-professional ballet school. To learn more, click here.
The dancers are thrilled to get back to live theatre on July 30-31, to present the three-act classical ballet Don Quixote at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono, Maine.