CLOSED CURTAINS

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By Maggie Kelleher

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, SMU’s performing artists face unique challenges as they look towards entering the workforce.

Finding a career in the performing arts has never been easy. During a financially. Being home of the largest contiguous urban arts district in the worldwide pandemic, it’s almost impossible. For Southern Methodist nation, Dallas has been profoundly impacted. University students majoring in the performing arts — theater, “The arts play a larger role in the overall economy and the good of dance and music — this means uncertainty and instability as they enter society,” said Jim Hart, SMU’s Director of Arts Entrepreneurship and an the workforce. Some students even say they are opting for career paths accomplished actor, director, writer and producer. “They are part of a unrelated to their major in the face of such challenging times. larger creative community, and if they are going to survive, they need

Kat Robertson, who graduated from SMU in 2020 with degrees in both financial resources.” dance performance and health and society, has dedicated most of her life According to research conducted by The Arts Community Alliance, Dallas to dance. She started dancing at the age of 3. At Arts District and Dallas Area Cultural Advocacy 15, she joined the University of North Carolina Coalition, Dallas arts and culture-related School of the Arts’ high school dance program, where she studied ballet for three years. “It has been terrifying, COVID-19 losses topped $67 million between March 13, when most major closures were initiRobertson came to SMU because of its dance ated, and July 31. Since then, Texas Governor program and had plans to move to New York to audition for dance companies and Broadway I had all my eggs in the Greg Abbott has issued guidelines for reopening performance venues, but with reduced capacshows following graduation. ity numbers and other restrictions, many have

Then COVID-19 hit. The audition processes Robertson had performing basket.” struggled to adapt or have opted to stay closed altogether for the time being. This means that already started were halted indefinitely, and money is short and few, if any, performing arts Broadway is closed until at least Jan. 3, 2021. groups are looking to hire in the near future.

“It’s been a huge punch in the face in a way — graduating from a univer- “Now, I’m nannying and doing really anything I can,” said Robertson. “I sity with a degree in the performing arts, feeling really prepared and having would still like to pursue dance in the future. I’m trying to stay optimistic, that fire lit underneath me, and then the initial drop off,” said Robertson. but I also have to be realistic.” “It has been terrifying. I had all of my eggs in the performing arts basket.” Hart has seen firsthand the hurdles students have had to overcome as a

As COVID-19-related business closures became more widespread in early result of COVID-19. To come out ahead in a global pandemic, students will March, performing arts communities were some of the first to be hit hard need to rely on entrepreneurial spirit and think beyond traditional job roles

and profit models. “Students have to utilize their imagination, which is an inherent asset that they have. It’s one of the greatest skills,” said Hart. “They have to use it not only to create artistic works, but to solve problems, and there are no shortage of problems that we’re facing right now.”

Khris Beeson, who graduated in 2020 with degrees in both dance performance and health and society, has done just that. When her professor, Dr. Eric Bing, sent out an email asking if any students were interested in helping him create COVID-19 safety recommendations for SMU Meadows School of the Arts and Dallas Theater Center, Beeson jumped at the opportunity. This landed her a summer internship, an article in The Dallas Morning News and a place in the conversations with some of SMU and the Dallas Theater Center’s biggest decision makers.

“It’s allowed me to fulfill my public health aspirations in a way that incorporates the arts,” said Beeson.

Some SMU students preparing to graduate this spring are also pivoting. Maddie Mullen, a senior majoring in cello performance, had planned to pursue live performance throughout her undergraduate years. When COVID-19 began limiting the possibilities for live performances, she began to reconsider.

“I need to make a living, and I want to make music. The specifics of how I can do that aren’t as important to me. COVID made me realize that recorded music is never going to go away,” said Mullen. “Knowing about sound engineering and music production is more important now than ever, so I’m planning on moving to Nashville to get my master’s in music business.”

Adele Carlson, a senior majoring in geophysics and dance with a minor in math, faced a similar dilemma. When COVID-19 hit, her original plans to attend summer dance intensives in New York City, as she has for many years, became unrealistic. Instead, she took an internship with Hale Sports, an athlete performance and health optimization service. Becoming a doctor was always a career goal, she said, but one she had intended to focus on after dance.

“It’s definitely made me rethink the timing of everything,” said Carlson. “I do still want to dance professionally, but now I’m thinking about speeding up the timeline of getting all my pre-med classes done and applying to medical schools just in case the arts don’t come back anytime soon.”

For dancers in particular, there is a ticking clock. Rigorous training takes its toll on a dancer’s body, meaning most retire by their late 20s or early 30s. For these dancers, a months- or yearslong pause isn’t just time lost, it’s a large chunk of their performing years taken away.

“There is a timeline with my body, and if I’m not able to be in the studio for a couple of years, that affects my chances of getting into a company,” said Carlson.

Other types of performers face similarly niche issues when it comes to maintaining COVID-19 safety. For example, woodwind and brass players have to worry about expelling saliva from their instruments, and any scenes depicting intimacy like kissing have had to be cut from plays and musicals.

If COVID-19 has made one thing glaringly evident, it’s the dedication these performers have to their craft. When they found out many of their classes would be taking place via Zoom, Carlson and her roommate, another dance major, backed out of living in their sorority house in favor of finding an apartment with a suitable amount of space to turn into a makeshift dance studio, she said. Mullen, too, has converted a room of her apartment into a music studio.

While the pressures facing the performing arts industry right now are undeniable, there are some silver linings. For example, Lyon Hamill, a senior majoring in theatre with a specialization in acting, has had the opportunity to continue performing via Zoom.

“If you’re not living in New York City, you can still perform with theatres there remotely now,” said Hamill. “It’s a great time for actors to step back and work on the technique of acting instead of focusing on performance.”

While the interactions both between performers on stage and between performers and the audience have undoubtedly been changed, there are still ways to enjoy and support the performing arts.

“Instagram and YouTube have become major platforms for performers to show their work,” said Beeson. “A lot of it is trial and error right now, but the biggest way you can support artists is by watching what they make and interacting with it.”