Identity Loss: Navigating the Pandemic as a Teaching Artist

Arts Across NC

Beyond the material struggles artists and arts organizations have faced over the last two years, there was also an ever-present and less explored existential struggle. Being an artist, specifically a teaching artist, isn’t just a career. It’s an identity. And when you can’t do the job that makes you who you are anymore, well, who are you? In this episode of Arts Across NC we talked with two teaching artists – Alfredo Hurtado, an Army veteran, actor, and professional dancer with Black Box Dance Theatre in Raleigh, and Lakeetha Blakeney a theatre educator and writer from Concord, North Carolina. Alfredo and Lakeetha both spent time reflecting on what a personal loss they felt when their creative avenues were shut off suddenly, how the virtual alternatives didn’t quite fill in for that missing piece, and the joy and fulfillment they have felt as we cautiously return to a sense of normalcy. You can learn more about Lakeetha Blakeney’s work at KeethaB.org. Alfredo Hurtado is a founding member of Black Box Dance Theatre, a modern dance company that uses dance as “a catalyst for meaningful human interactions, powerful storytelling, and transformative art-making”. Learn more about their work at BlackBoxDanceTheatre.org. This June, Alfredo will perform in Raleigh Little Theatre’s presentation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical, In The Heights.