Book about Pittsburgh dancers' pandemic experience will support mental health

The shutdown that occurred during the pandemic adversely affected people from a variety of professions, especially those in the arts who had to stop performing for live audiences.

Among those profoundly impacted were performers from a variety of Pittsburgh dance companies.

Now, a new book is telling their stories.

“Waiting in the Wings — Pittsburgh Dancers Experiencing the Pandemic” is now on sale for $42.99. Copies can be purchased by going to https://buzzyphotography.com/.

The book includes images and quotes from 30 dancers from eight Pittsburgh dance companies. The dancers discuss the challenges they faced and what they learned dancing through the pandemic.

It’s a collaborative effort between photographer Anita Buzzy Prentiss and Kathleen McGuire Gaines, founder of Minding the Gap, a company seeking to have mental health regarded as seriously as physical health in dance culture.

A portion of the book’s proceeds will support Minding the Gap’s mental health programs for dancers.

“I felt the need to turn my attention to the performing arts community and see how the pandemic was affecting them,” Prentiss said. “I wanted to see how the pandemic had affected people who relied on audiences and performing and how they were handling not being able to be on stage.”

The importance of mental health in dance culture has never been clearer than it is now, according to Gaines.

“Dancers must surmount incredible mental challenges every day, often with little or no mental health resources,” she said. “But the impact of the pandemic has been staggering.”

Prentiss said she wanted to create a book that not only showed pretty pictures but also helped the dance community.

“What I found was just sort of a larger, inspiring concept that can apply to anybody who’s interested in anything they love: When the rug is ripped out from underneath you and you’re standing there like ‘what the heck am I going to do now?’”

“A lot of these dancers were never sure if they were ever going to be in a performance again. But they still stayed with it, and that was very inspiring to me.”

Attack Theatre Studios, Buzzy Photography and Minding the Gap will hold a book release party on April 16 from 4–6 p.m. at Attack Theatre Studios at 212 45^th St. in Pittsburgh.