Dancing outside the black box.
December 17, 2020
PEARLANN PORTER STAGED HER THOUGHT POCKETS SIDEWALK SERIES IN AUGUST ON STRAWBERRY WAY, DOWNTOWN | PHOTO BY AARON JACKENDOFF
When the Benedum Center’s curtain lowered on “Beauty and the Beast’s” happy ending in February, who knew it wouldn’t rise on the dance world again this year? Although Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s production was the company’s last dance at that venue, the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t paralyze the season. It invigorated it.
As theaters closed, local artists virtually danced around, canceled, postponed and rescheduled gigs. Quarantine-inspired expressions of confinement, isolation and frustration proliferated on social media, prompting Attack Theatre’s “Cello Diary” and PBT’s “Dances From Home.”