Music & Dance News: Holding On

This summer has been one of tremendous uncertainty. I am a planner by nature, but living in a pandemic disrupts the ability to plan things - both large and small- to an almost comical degree. Most of us have recently experienced the frustration of making plans and then scrapping them as the situation changes. 

As we move towards Fall, uncertainty still looms. There are still so many things that we don't know: Will we go back to school? What will that look like? When will we be able to return to normal? If I focus on what I don't know and all the possible scenarios of what might happen, I get overwhelmed with anxiety. So I am trying to focus on what I do know:

• The threat from Covid has not passed yet. 

• We need to stay strong and work together as a community to get through this.

• We need to adapt and be okay with things looking different for a while.

• The arts are a vital part of our community that is crucial to our well-being. 

• We will find ways to keep the arts as part of our lives and community. 

I want to make plans and to know the answers right now, but sometimes we just have to hold on and wait for the answers to come. I love these line from the song "Hold On" from The Secret Garden: 

What you do then is remember this old thing you heard me say:
It's the storm, not you, that's bound to blow away.
Hold on, hold on to someone standing by.
Hold on. Don't even ask how long or why!
Child, hold on to what you know is true,
Hold on 'til you get through. Child, oh child! Hold on!

So even as we don't know what the fall will bring, keep holding on. We will find ways to adapt and get through this together. 

Karen Porter, VPA Choir Program Director