Covid-19 in France

Yesterday evening, the French President Emmanuel Macron spoke for the first time on the national television about the situation of the Coronavirus epidemic in France. He announced that all the schools will be closed starting from coming Monday. Other precautions like telecommuting, limit travelling, economic assistance were also suggested.

Before Macron spoke, there were an exceptional meeting at the Paris Opera with directors. All the performances are now cancelled until 24th April, but the rehearsals may continue. Certain dancers who are parents highly doubt how they could go to work while leaving their children at home, because the schools are now closed, and others wonder how we can rehearse together while keeping a 1-meter distance with each other as suggested by the official guidelines.

I was supposed to be performing in Anglet this Sunday and then in Nancy next weekend with the company 3e étage. We would go to Anglet by plane, which sounds a little scary now. And today I am supposed to be rehearsing at Opéra Bastille at 1:30pm, it is 8:08am, we are still waiting for the official decisions made by the Paris Opera.

As the French President mentioned, we are only at the very beginning of the epidemic. Probably sooner or later we will move to stage-3, and we will be confined at home, maybe for several weeks? months?

Exceptional season at the Opera. Between the prolonged strike period and the coronavirus episode, we haven’t done much apart from rehearsing this year. Coincidences decided that I stopped studying this year, which led me to an exceptionally empty year, for the first time since a very very long time. If we will be confined at home for a long period of time, we shall use this precious free time at home for other projects.

Exciting projects, what will they be for me?