It may be an understatement to say Kelly Hren's Dancehampton students were hungry for the chance to perform and compete for the first time in a year. On March 14, 20 girls performed in 33 routines at a Kids Artistic Revue showcase and took home multiple awards for their polished technique, choreography, and presentation.
"I think they went into this competition knowing that it could possibly be the only one of the season," said Ms. Hren, who established her studio in 2007. "I think that's why they performed so well. There was so much enthusiasm -- they wanted it."
In the pandemic, dance competitions, school theater programs, and other creative opportunities were unceremoniously interrupted, as if a Band-Aid had suddenly been ripped off. But with the gradual improvement in Covid-19 statistics — a lower seven-day average positivity rate, for example — has come the return of performing arts programs. High school musical theater productions have resumed, albeit with many modifications in place, and groups like Our Fabulous Variety Show and the Neo-Political Cowgirls are also planning programs.
"Being back onstage after over a year was an incredible feeling, and doing so well brought that feeling to another level. Nothing beats the adrenaline you get right before walking on stage and performing," said Gabby Osborn, 18. She danced in a small-group contemporary routine called "Waiting Game" at the Kids Artistic Revue alongside Emma Hren, Ryleigh O'Donnell, Taylor Duchemin, and Lauren Gabbard, choreographed by Krystal Lamiroult. The group earned an "elite top first" rating and placed third over all in their category.
"Throughout the whole competition I couldn't stop laughing and smiling with my teammates because we all knew how great it was to finally be back onstage and spend time with each other," said Ryleigh, 15, whose duet with Emma, "Heal," earned an elite top first rating and first place over all. "I know we all missed the feeling of waking up at 6 in the morning, putting on loads of makeup, setting up costumes, and getting onstage and dancing."
Dancehampton's success on March 14 continued with elite top first scores for "Ain't No Sunshine," Taylor's solo choreographed by Anita Boyer, and "Where They Are From," Kerri O'Donnell's solo choreographed by Ms. Lamiroult, with both earning fourth-place finishes in their categories. The petite company routine "Kill the Lights" received the Stars on the Rise award, and a hip-hop number called "Kick It" earned the Squad Goals award. "Royal T," a jazz routine featuring Emma, Kerri, Taylor, Georgia Kenny, and Lila Ruddy, and choreographed by Blaire Needham, won the most entertaining award, and "Get Loud," a jazz routine choreographed by Kasia Klimiuk, won for best costume.
At Pierson Middle and High School, students are working on "Take 10." It's a series of 10-minute musicals -- four small-scale productions with only a handful of kids onstage at once. There's comedy, fantasy, and terrible love advice, but the magic is in the fact that they can finally make it happen.
"We're all just kind of taking it one day at a time," said Bethany Dellapolla, Pierson's musical theater director. "Everything is being done with that extra safety concern in mind. This was a traumatic year for everyone. If I started something, what was really important to me was that we would be able to finish it, in whatever form that took. The worst thing to do would be to start something and then have to rip it from the kids again."
A few solo numbers will be sprinkled in, keeping the production to a maximum length of an hour. The curtain will rise on the weekend of June 4 through June 6, though the exact format in which it will reach audiences — live-streamed, in person, or some hybrid combination — has yet to be decided.
Similarly, thespians at East Hampton High School are working on a revue-style show they call "The Pandemic Production." It will ultimately be filmed for viewers.
"I certainly think that anything that allows kids to become engaged at this point is not only meaningful but really important and carries the most impact," said Debbie Mansir, East Hampton's musical theater director. "Students are just unfortunately disconnected without having that kind of person-to-person interaction and the ability to socialize and express themselves. . . . I must say I have seen the energy here start to shift a little bit. It's very slow, but you're starting to feel a different energy in the building."
Rehearsals are either via Zoom or are attended in person by no more than six students at a time who form a socially distant horseshoe around the piano for vocal work.
The Neo-Political Cowgirls, directed by Kate Mueth, is planning outdoor performances of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" and "The Parade" in East Hampton Village's Herrick Park this summer. The latter will be accompanied by a mask-making workshop.
There has been "a weariness, a flatness" to the spirits of her young participants, Ms. Mueth said in an email this week. "While we wouldn't have chosen this, what (and how) we do with it is everything," she wrote. "It's a relearning, a rebirth, a cautious re-entry. It needs to be handled delicately, with safety being at the forefront, and with remembrance that we are not 'returning to normal' but that we are rebuilding our world. Let's make sure to bring all we've learned and to highlight the silver linings we've discovered along the way."
Ms. Boyer and Ms. Klimiuk, in addition to choreographing for Dancehampton, also run their own theater group, Our Fabulous Variety Show, which recently held auditions for its annual tap-dance production. Participants could try out in person or virtually, and the show at this point is being planned as an in-person event that will also be live-streamed from the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center.
"For us, the opportunity to get together in person and perform live is what's changing. We never stopped doing programming -- we did some in-person stuff when we could meet outside and distanced," Ms. Boyer said. "I'm so grateful that we're able to tap dance together. Tap is one of the hardest things to do virtually. I can virtually teach the moves, but being together and having that sound and filling a room, getting in the groove, feeling the beat together — there's nothing like doing that in person."
Ms. Boyer is also choreographing musical numbers for high school productions at Southampton High School and Southold High School.
"I think that it's going to be many years before we actually understand the devastation that this last year has caused, especially with young people," she said. "Being able to have any kind of opportunity to express themselves through the arts . . . is really going to be such incredible therapy."