CHLOE, Lockdown Day 19
How has Covid-19 affected you and your life?
“The thing that Covid 19 has effected the most for me is my work-home life balance. I work as a performer and designer, so the majority of my work happens in the evening’s. For the first time in a long time, my evenings are my own again.
I lost two months worth of dance work, as well as additional freelance teaching overnight. We’re incredibly lucky that there are petitions to help for self-employed, and fundraisers to help theatres re-open post June 2020. It gives us hope that our careers will continue post-pandemic.
In the meantime, the only thing we can do is to create at home, keep in touch with our loved ones and rebalance ourselves. It’s a strange time, because it feels a lot like we are living in both the past and the future. There’s a real retro feeling to the experience, almost as though we’ve been transported back in time to the eighties. I think this stems from taking time out of the sheer speed 21st century to call up our family and friends, and really listening.
The thing that I miss the most isn’t performing (although that is a close second!), but having no virtual access to my family. I’ve missed both Mothers Day and Easter and I feel really guilty about that. However, I’m lucky enough to live with a group of friends, and we’re finally able to make time to cook and eat meals together again as our busy schedules no longer clash.
Time has slowed. On the other hand, there’s also something inherently futuristic about our current situation. A lot of the news makes me feel as though we’re in a film, or even an episode of ‘Black Mirror’. We’re taking virtual yoga sessions, dance classes, even partying online. Theatre is being streamed online – the ‘live ness’ has been taken out of the ‘live’. The future is online and we are living it.”