With the 2020 Dance Show fast-approaching, The World takes a look back at the catastrophe that played out behind the scenes of last year’s performance.

As show time crept slowly closer, industrial-sized garbage cans appeared, lining the halls. While most dancers were touching up makeup, others were rushing to the bathrooms. All participants in the 2019 John Burroughs Dance Show were scrambling to prepare for the final show as the audience waited patiently for the curtain to rise, ignorant of the chaos within.

Things started to fall apart early that Saturday morning. “I woke up that morning and my stomach was really hurting,” explains Dance Show participant Kendall Allen (‘21), “By 9 AM, I was very, very sick.” Jennifer Kinney, the director of the show, recounts that she first heard about the illness in the early afternoon. She received calls from then-senior Ella Schactman (‘19), Allen, and a string of others saying that they could not perform because they were extremely ill. The unknown sickness spread through the cast like a wildfire, claiming at least seven victims by mid-Saturday.

At around 2:45 PM, Madame Kinney called the entire cast in early to re-block dances. “I started taking roll, seeing who was here, who was sick, who was not sick,” she explains.  “People were leaving rehearsals to run to the bathroom to go get sick.” Soon, almost every dance had lost someone to the illness, Eventually, Madame Kinney made the tough decision to push back the starting time to 8 PM to reblock the entire show, something that had never happened before in Dance Show history.

When the show began, Madame Kinney traveled backstage to keep an eye on those falling ill. In between dances, she found people sick everywhere, slumped over trash cans backstage. “Backstage was so stressful because people would run and get sick, but everyone was trying to hide the fact that they were getting sick,” dancer and choreographer Celia Gossow (‘21) recalls. Through the chaos, the performers managed to put on a wonderful show. In fact, audience members who saw both shows said that it was either just as good or even better than the previous night, Madame Kinney reports.

Although every member of the cast was affected by the sickness in one way or another, all could agree that this show would be remembered. The cast became extremely connected, brought together by fighting against the odds and putting on an incredible show. “It was amazing to watch the perseverance at that time.  I mean people were throwing up 30 seconds before a dance and going back out on stage,” Kinney said. “It just showed incredible dedication and athleticism.”

Gossow explained that because of everything that happened, “it became one of the most memorable dance shows. It gave each grade something to be inspired by. It gave people proof of why dance show is important and how it forms bonds and relationships.” Finally, Allen reflected that, “the heart of the entire show was that it brought people together.” In the face of the Dance Show-mageddon, the cast and crew of the 2019 John Burroughs Dance Show grew closer, stronger, and formed memories that would stick with them forever.

In the end, no one knows where the plague started or what it actually was. Some hypotheses have been made, suggesting that close quarters, lack of sleep, or sharing of food and makeup caused the development and rapid spread of the illness. However, as everyone that night knew, no matter what happened, the show must always go on.