Ballet performance video explores isolation in age of physical distancing

Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancers and local roots rockers The Bros. Landreth hope a new collaborative video performance inspires people struggling with feelings of isolation and loneliness during this period of social distancing. 

Liam Caines, the dance company's second soloist, came up with the idea for the project after talking to friends and family and realizing that many were struggling with feelings of loss and separation brought on by months of government-mandated social isolation meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

"Being inspired by the theme of 'we're all in this together,' I thought it would be interesting to create a video that offered a bit of a balletic take on what some of my colleagues and I were experiencing over a span of a day," said Caines.

When David Landreth was approached by Caines with the idea of working on the project, he and his brother leapt at the opportunity. 

"It felt really good to be able to do that again, because I haven't really made music with anybody since February, which is easily the longest stretch I've gone without playing music in my entire adult life," said Landreth.

The video features new choreography created by the dancers set to a stripped-down recording of the song "Where Were We" from The Bros. Landreth's 2013 album, Let It Lie.

Dancers improvised

Only a small portion of the dance moves in the video were choreographed, while the rest were improvised by the dancers based on their interpretations of the directions provided by Caines and a few others.

"You ... got to see a lot of individuality come out and in how the dancers interpreted the the direction which gave insight into their personalities," something audiences don't often see in a typical ballet performance, said Caines. 

The video will be released July 7 at 6 p.m. on the band's YouTube channel. A link to the launch event will be emailed to fans of the band and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

The Manitoba government declared a state of emergency on March 20, which was extended for another 30 days on June 15. 

Second collaboration

This video project is the second time the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and The Bros. Landreth have collaborated on a performance. In 2019, the band provided music for the Next of Kin project, which explored the intergenerational impact of addiction.

While that project involved live performance with dancers and musicians on stage together, this new video was created using recordings of each performer at home, alone. 

That, along with the dancers' movements, emphasized the theme of isolation, said Landreth. 

"A lot of the movements that the dancers were doing were just very mundane, daily movements," like moving an arm from one side of a table to another, or walking through a door, he said.

Lighten the mood

To make the video, Landreth's brother Joey recorded the main track using a metronome to keep time, which the dancers used to create their parts, while David and drummer Curtis Nowosad, in New York City, added additional instrumentation.

Landreth has been kept busy during the pandemic caring for his baby son, who was born in January, but he said it meant a lot to him to reconnect with a creative community. 

"And I know that means a lot to Joey and Curtis as well, just an opportunity to do what we do, to make some music, to make some noise with our friends, albeit in a very strange way," he said.

Caines hopes that the video offers some empathy and much-needed distraction to the people who watch it, while also helping to lighten the mood.

"It's very easy ... when you're isolated, to forget that you're not alone," he said.