Makino Hayashi and Bailey Shaw in SculptedClouds by Jennifer Archibald. Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert.

For a dancer, starting a new season is like unwrapping a gift. This year, as the dancers of OBT open the gift of the 2021-22 season, mystery and delight are intensified and weighted by the uncertainty and devastation these artists, and the world, have known.

Alongside the ten new dancers OBT is welcoming to its roster, the company’s veterans are beginning this season almost like newcomers themselves. After a year’s break in the continuum of a dance career, it’s impossible to simply pick up where one left off. But, armed with the new perspective that such disruption inevitably brings, the dancers you’ll see tonight aren’t returning to the stage desperately seeking to make up for lost time— they’re savoring this rare opportunity to rediscover their art, their craft, and even possibly themselves.

“I honestly can’t think of a better place to start my professional career,” says new Company Artist Priyana Acharya. After two years in Kansas City Ballet’s second company, Covid brought a screeching halt to the momentum of her career path. Priyana almost lost hope— but not quite. “Suddenly having to stop, quarantine, do class on a wood floor at home… it was a body-shocker,” she remembers. “It was right around audition season, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. But I didn’t want to quit because this was my dream. Plus, there aren’t a lot of Indian ballerinas out there— I really wanted to ‘make it’ so that younger dancers would have someone to look up to.” Her patience paid off with a last minute invitation to launch her career at OBT. “Every day feels surreal to me,” she says of her first weeks with the company. “All those years of training, auditions, learning experiences have built up to this point. Every day I wake up and am like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s real!’”

It could be easy to feel overwhelmed by all the newnesses— new career, new job, new setting, new people— but another new dancer, Isaac Lee, steadies his nerves by taking things moment-by-moment. “It’s hugely exciting to be in this particular company at the start of my career,” he says. “It’s a rebirth for the arts. The energy is so high; everyone has such a positive attitude. You can tell everyone’s missed practicing our craft together.” Isaac admires all his new colleagues (“There are so many wonderful technicians here!”) but watches soloist Christopher Kaiser in particular. “I really look up to Chris… he just works so hard and I love his qualities and attitude in the studio.” 

When Makino Hayashi joined OBT eleven years ago, she was already a seasoned professional. Like many of us, Makino did a lot of reflecting during the pandemic year, thinking about how her career thus far might evolve in the future— but with the acknowledgement of how unpredictable that future may be. As plans for OBT’s return began to take shape, Makino felt anxious— how would her body react to full rehearsal days? To the pressure of performance?— but as rehearsals began, she relaxed. “Thinking about it is more stressful than doing it,” she discovered. “I’ve been focusing on each day, each hour, rather than worrying about what might come tomorrow or next week. My body and mind get tired more quickly now, and knowing that my body is not so young anymore, I have to take care of myself more and rest when I can.”

While Makino doesn’t see herself as a role model, she undoubtedly is. She says she feels refreshed by her younger colleagues’ energy and talent, and that what she would offer in the way of guidance has to do with her own realizations over the past year. “I thought and felt so much during the pandemic. Covid taught us that you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Life doesn’t go on forever, so keep yourself happy and productive and doing what you love.”

Interim Artistic Director Peter Franc is doing just that. Transitioning from dancer to director so swiftly means Peter brings much of his dancer-persona to his new role. His memories of being in the studio himself, still very fresh in his body and mind, are a strong influence. “I know how little time we have as dancers, how rewarding an experience it can be, but also how frustrating,” he says. “Dancers can feel siloed and not considered, overvalued and undervalued at the same time. So I feel enthused by the prospect and potential of being able to have everyone feel joyful and positive about dance as movement, to project the feeling behind that movement, which is what makes a performance great.”

Now more than ever, that is exactly what we all need to see, no matter from which side of the footlights we gaze. The thing about live performance, particularly dance, which we’ve missed so much is the palpable energy passed back and forth between audience and performers. The sense of our shared humanity and awe at the power we hold to collectively create grace.

Makino’s thoughts on entering this season are well worth holding close as we all step forward into a changed world, one with promise and possibility and the constant shadow of risk. “I know more now about what I want to do as a dancer, who I want to be and how I want to do it. I used to have a lot of uncertainty, but now I trust myself and my partners. The music is there, the floor is there, and I trust myself and my body to live fully today, with no regrets.”

Former OBT principal dancer Gavin Larsen is the author of Being a Ballerina: The Power and Perfection of a Dancing Life (University Press of Florida). She teaches and writes about dance from Asheville, NC.