Many Chicagoans have been sheltering in place for the last two months. Maybe you’re used to working out and rehearsing every day, or maybe staying at home provides welcome reprieve from a jam-packed schedule. Either way, you’re likely growing tired of sitting still. Maybe you even feel that traditional workouts aren’t really your “thing.” Now what? While you may be tempted to do some online shopping, you don’t need any expensive equipment to get the most out of training in the comfort of your living space!

Each month, I preview upcoming dance events for See Chicago Dance, highlighting the productions that excite me the most. My job is to entice dance audiences to circle a date in their calendars, to make room for dance and to experience something they might otherwise not have tried.

If more sedentary living hasn’t gotten you down yet, isolation and disconnect from support groups has almost certainly taken its toll on your mental health. When it feels like your eyeballs are about to jump out of your head, you’ve refreshed every social media app on your phone twice, you’ve already taken an Instagram Live dance class and Zoomed a dozen Zooms, how can you connect with loved ones without going online?

Aurora's Paramount Theatre is connecting to audiences near and far in the absence of live performance during the COVID-19 quarantine. Every Saturday night for the last five weeks, thousands of people tuned in to Paramount’s social feeds to watch the “Connection Social Media Concerts.” With themes that change weekly, musicians, poets and dancers submit original work inspired by these complicated times. Amber Mak, the theater’s new works development director, is the multitalented mind and big heart behind the online performances. 

In keeping the spirit of Chicago Dance Month alive during quarantine and as See Chicago Dance focuses on dancer health this May, I talked with dance/movement therapists and artists versed in kinesthetic practices to break down dance/movement therapy for those who need it, to provide resources for those struggling to meet basic needs and to outline basic coping strategies to get artists and arts administrators across the city through the day-to-day of living in quarantine.