Bal Masqué

Well, the school year has begun here in Utah, where our legislature has made it illegal for school districts and public universities to require mask wearing in the classroom. Naturally, some of us are quite concerned -- children under 12 cannot be vaccinated against COVID-19, and fewer than half of students in high school and college are vaccinated, so opening the doors to our fully-occupied, unmasked schoolrooms means that the virus will have rich fields for the reaping.

I take adult ballet two times a week in a rather small studio. I assume, but I don't know, that some of my adult classmates are vaccinated. Still, the studio is, as I said, small, and not particularly well ventilated, so I will be wearing a mask. Ideally, it would have some filtration built in, but so far I have not been able to tolerate a KN95 for more than about 15 minutes while exercising. Two further days a week, I take class with a mixed group of teens and pre-teens (some of whom were my students this summer, so that's a little weird, but it gives me the opportunity to take class from a teacher I haven't had before, and to work on my pointe technique). This class is in a large gymnasium type space, with a high ceiling and good ventilation. BUT, there are so many unvaccinated kids in Utah, and they're spending 6+ hours a day in packed classrooms with other unvaccinated kids, and so I am also wearing a mask and taking extra care to put some space between myself and my young classmates in this setting.

I really do not enjoy dancing in a mask. It is stifling, and my face gets very sweaty. I also think it interferes with my peripheral vision and therefore messes with my spotting and balances. But I do not to be the vector, and so I wear it. I've found that the "sports" version of the masks sold by Old Navy are the most comfortable, and since they are also 2-layer and tight woven, and they have a bendable nose wire to fit them to my face, I assume they're as effective as such a light mask can be. (I think they may be phasing them out, as they only have a single colorway left). I have also tried masks by Athleta (too thick) and LuckyLeo (cute, but I don't like the tie-behind the head style, and they're a bit clingy to the face). A lot of people recommend the UnderArmour sports mask, but I haven't tried it. I guess I should try it, given their support for Misty Copeland alone.

I hope that at some point in the not too distant future, I could feel comfortable going maskless. The face is part of the dance, after all. But until people in my region start behaving responsibly, until our leaders do their ethical duty to protect public health, and until there is a vaccine for children, I guess I'll be the lone masked ranger in my classes.