BBC News
By Lucy Ash
image copyrightGuglielmo Mattioli
When the pandemic closed New York s theatres, thousands of performers found themselves out of work - some were even unable to pay for their health insurance. One top dancer quickly opened a business, inspired by a gift from a fan, which gave people a way to express affection during lockdown.
In the basement of his Manhattan apartment, Robbie Fairchild is surrounded by buckets of scarlet peonies. These flowers are storytellers, he tells me, stripping some leaves from the stems. I love the way they start off all balled up and you don t know what they are going to turn into. It s like a live performance and each flower is so different - it s incredible.