How the pandemic made dancer Matteo Morandini reassess his life

“After all the thoughts I have been going through, I let myself wondering, what would I do in another scenario? What do I like except dancing?”

One of my first memories as a child is my mum holding my hand on the way to ballet school, I was almost five years old and it was one of the best days of my life. Since that day, we have also gone to the theatre many times together and, although I don’t live with her anymore, it is still something that we love and share sometimes.

The other day, I was sitting outside on the balcony, watching the clouds, I still love imagining different shapes… and I’ve realised, it’s been over a year that I haven’t been to a theatre, over a year since I’ve seen a live performance, and that after a year we are all sitting on the same couch, watching the news and hoping that this situation would end as soon as possible. 

A lot of young adults working in the creative industry have seen their careers impacted by the pandemic. It has not been an easy year, we have al had a lot of time to ourselves and the pandemic has made us realise how our lives can, all of a sudden, just be paused.

But how are the younger generation working in the arts reacting to this situation? What are the mental repercussions? Have their lives changed?

Matteo Morandini is a 23-year-old dancer currently based in Rome. He entered La Scala Ballet School at 14 and moved to Milan to start his studies and career as a dancer. After graduation, he decided to pursue his studies in the Netherlands by taking up a bachelor’s degree course in Dance in which he worked more deeply on performative skills and awareness, and it helped him to define his artistic ambitions more clearly.

“I recognized dance can embed all aspect of life and can be a creative tool to look at the world around us since everything, in the end, intrinsically is movement. From molecular atoms to immense multiverses, what keeps everything going is the constant evolution of movement. And in dance like in life, you never stop learning, it’s all about keeping curiosity alive and playing with ways to do so.”

Last year, he worked as an apprentice with Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, a contemporary dance company, “I was about to join as a company member when the corona pandemic hit the performing industry, so my contract could not be renewed and I eventually came back to Italy asking myself what I was up to with my life. Something had shifted, I was ready for new beginnings.”

His life before the lockdown was very intense, as a dancer, and he explained how he had been covering a lot of different spots in the dance performances while he was touring and how extreme it can be working for so many hours on stage. “When the lockdown first arrived, I felt I could breathe again,” Matteo said. “Most of my friends from the company, were extremely busy, I could see them struggling to find a new routine, finding a new way to be productive, to be structured, to create workouts every day.

“I took it very chill at the beginning, I was enjoying my time for the first two weeks, just chilling and vibing and seeing my friends when I could. I think this time and space that I took for myself, allowed me not to overwhelm my mind, think about something different, and eventually come up with the idea that made me realise I wanted to study something new.”

The lockdown was not easy, although a lot of companies let professional dancers join their online classes. “There were plenty of things to do. It was almost paradoxical, sometimes there were even more classes than usual. Since the internet connects everyone, I could follow a class from the American Academy theatre in NYC , but after two weeks it became very stressful because people were realising that the situation was taking longer and the performing world, the dance world was getting in trouble.”

Most of the dance companies had to close for a while and a lot of dancers ended up without a job. “In May they told me that they couldn’t renew my contract anymore. It was a big moment where I felt really sad because I really wanted to work there, but at the same time I felt really free, all the thoughts I have been going through, I let myself wondering, what would I do in another scenario? What do I like except dancing?”

He decided to go home and contact two Italian companies and give his dance life a last go.

“I had two more auditions with Italian companies that were still looking for dancers. One didn’t go well, Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia, it was a company I really admired, valued and have followed for years, so I felt quite demotivated because I knew they were looking for professional dancers for longer than me, but I was still resting some hopes to work with them.”

The other audition went well but at that moment he told me he already decided that he wanted to study something new and it was political science.

“Through all this months I just allowed myself to think about other things to space out a little bit mentally and physically, because I was forced to be at home, but I allowed myself to be creative, and that’s how I came up with the idea to give a twist to my career.”