ART SCHOOLS FACE UNIQUE CHALLENGES
Pandemic protocols make instruction difficult, but not impossible
School is back in session for the fall term and classes are Zooming along for many. But when it comes to virtual versus actual results, some areas of study present unique challenges to attain results.
Students studying everything from jazz dance to drumming to ceramics to set design are faced with some real challenges trying to satisfy class requirements online.
“It's difficult to say how adjusting to the new format will be because so much of the program is ensemble and interpersonally based,” said Alisa Lindley, 23, a third-year student in Capilano University's Acting for Film and TV certificate program. “But it hasn't been as much of a deterrent because my year handles a lot of monologues and various aspects of the business, which can be done online. But I was cast in the play this fall and we are starting our rehearsals in Zoom, so we will see how that goes, but that is the world we will be going into when we graduate too.”
Classes have been cut in half and attendance is split between rotating one half of the students attending in-person training while the other half attend via Zoom, at Capilano University's theatre program, said acting instructor Gillian Barber.
“Because acting, musical theatre, voice, dance and movement are all very much based on having the room to move, as well as having others in the room to watch and interact with you, this model was best,” said Barber. “It gives the experience to try things out online and in person, and I can say after four days of classes it's going great. As I'm doing this interview, our tap teacher is instructing online to nine socially distanced students in the studio downstairs from my office.”
One of those students is Trinity Valera-Mertineit, a musical theatre fan who admits that the barriers posed by having to take choreography classes or vocal training on Zoom have opened up a whole new world of negotiating apartment life. It's also led to a lot of students getting very busy with TikTok, as Valera-Mertineit and her roommate have done.
“I'm lucky because I live in a garden suite, but my peers have talked about taking tap classes or early morning vocal lessons requiring a designated space and letting neighbours know what's going on and it can get awkward,” she said.
“One of the strangest things is how we are all separated into streams, which really means we are kept apart in a discipline where we are encouraged to get in each other's faces and collaborate, and how that affects what we do. But we are all trying to stay positive about it because as hard as it is, we are so lucky to be able to be here.”
The “new normal” is certainly bringing changes to long-established teaching techniques. Art school materials classes are a great example of the changing academic landscape.
“I've had this question a lot of times over the past five months and, I suppose, my first question back is `How do you teach any art form online?'” said Julie York, an associate professor in ceramics at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
“Ceramics demands a lot of infrastructure and specific tools in order to process the material from kilns, pottery wheels and other tools. But there is a lot to learn outside of that aspect of production and physical making. So I feel quite lucky and elated to be able to teach other things in tandem with the production, such as a lot of form development, the language of ceramics and development of conceptual frameworks, social and cultural implications and so forth.”
In other words, there is plenty to know conceptually before you can get your hands dirty. And York thinks this holds true for other arts, too.
All instructors contacted said striving to do everything possible to protect everyone involved from any unnecessary risk is a must.
But there is no way that anyone is going to achieve a cinematic, Whiplash-like moment playing with the big band on your computer. Everyone who has known a drummer is aware that they need practice spaces and opportunities to work with others or else they grow up to be '70s-era arena soloists giving literal gong shows.
“What we decided to do was to run anything academic online, but run all of the combos and ensembles in person,” said Capilano University jazz studies program co-ordinator Steve Kaldestad.
“So we have spent the summer preparing rooms specifically for safe distancing with Plexiglas dividers, masks and everything to do whatever we can to maximize safety when we are playing together. You aren't moving the molecules the same way, or communing with something greater to create if you aren't communing in a room and getting experiential learning.”
Jen Rose, the interim executive director of the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, said they have been encountering some of the same issues. The program, which operates a 16,000-square-foot space off of Main Street in Vancouver, as well as campuses in Surrey and Edmonton, is going for a mixed-use plan operating with a six-student maximum for most classes that previously were 40 to 60 in number.
“We transitioned pretty quickly, and the biggest thing staff all commented on was missing the connection with students. So everyone is excited to be getting back to that,” said Rose. “But the school will look very different — limited class sizes, rolling plastic dividers to put between students and teachers, etc. — with one staff member per student group, which is a big change from our usual model, and no interaction with other classes.”
The Scotiabank Dance Centre has been back open since June 1.
Usually in near-constant operation to try to meet the massive demand for dancers to have practice and work spaces, it plays an essential role in Vancouver's active movement arts community.
“Considering capacity of each studio meant considering what dance form might take place in it, and the difference between yoga or something very stable versus something more hip-hop or balletic is significant,” said executive director Mirna Zagar.
The Vancouver Film School is trying a number of initiatives, including new partnerships with Dell, Nvidia and Terradici to allow for more powerful computers and production pipelines for students to access, and moving as much of the practical and hands-on aspects of the curriculum to later dates within the semester periods.
Naturally, there are significant challenges presented to training someone for makeup arts and similar essential film industry skills.
“Animation and creative tech, like gaming and effects, flipped it really quick,” said creative director Evan Biswanger. “But film and TV production, where you need to get behind the camera, obviously had hesitations. We have invited those students back in at a very limited capacity with small core student bubbles working in classes at about 30 per cent of usual capacity and having to find additional real estate to provide adequate, safe classroom spaces for them.”
For all of these facilities, providing top-level training while adhering to constantly shifting rules is challenging, expensive and admittedly awkward at times.
But everyone is of the opinion that the class of 2020-21 is going to come out with new and unique approaches to making art.