Kristin went to a dance party on Saturday in her sleepwear. The clothes didn't matter, because she never left her living room. The party took place entirely on a social app — Instagram.
A few minutes before, she'd been sitting on her couch reading the news, feeling like she was about to cry. Then she got a message pushed to her phone: Ryan Heffington, the two-time Grammy proposed choreographer (编舞者)，was streaming a dance class on Instagram Live. "The numbness I was feeling just went away," she says. "I'm just gonna do it." As Kristin danced, she saw comments and hearts pop up on the live stream. Almost 2,700 people were dancing virtually alongside her. "Wow, people are really connecting," she says. Now, moving alone in her apartment with only her phone to keep her company, she felt almost optimistic.
Heffington is part of a wave of dance teachers moving their classes online as the COVID-19 continues to spread. There is a rise in social media offerings as people look to their phones to give them a sense of community and help them stay active during the crisis. Heffington, however, is well suited to lead the digital dance era. His philosophy is that anyone can dance—and anywhere, apparently. To Heffington, this is proof that the crisis is an opportunity for people to come together. "This is what social media was designed for." he says, "It's separated us in some aspects, but at this point in time, it's kind of all we have, and it's so beautiful"
From her living room, Kristin agrees. She's figured out how to project her phone onto her TV, and pushed back her couch to have more space to dance. "Ryan's next classes are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week, and I'm going to all of them," she says. "Why not? I'm going to dance my way through this crisis."
