Crain’s New York Business
April 2021

The city’s performing artists are leaving stages behind to get back to work. Instead, they’re performing on rooftops, in gardens and in the middle of streets, aided by state and city programs and individual organizers intent on giving them a chance to work, even if the payoff is more symbolic than profitable.

“It’s exciting to be dancing outdoors,” said Morgan McEwan, a dancer who is the founder and artistic director of MorDance, a company that usually performs at Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse.

With eight of her dancers, McEwan will set up on lower Sixth Avenue each Wednesday afternoon beginning in July, moving to Saturdays come October.

But planning is neither easy nor cheap. She will have to locate an outlet for her extension cord and remember to print signage and bring sanitizer. Choreography is another issue because the dances must be rethought “for the challenge of dancing in sneakers on concrete,” McEwan said.

Although state rules that went into effect April 2 allow indoor venues to operate at 33% capacity to a maximum of 150, arts organizations say that the outdoors represent the smoothest path to performing again soon after a year of few in-person events. So far, organizers say, putting on shows outdoors has been challenging but rewarding, both for performers and their audiences.