It's hard enough to strike a graceful pose en pointe on stage, let alone while ensconced in a plastic bubble. However, dancers from the Stuttgart Ballet group made it look easy as they took part in a pandemic-inspired art project. Dancers from the troupe posed inside giant PVC bubbles as part of a concept by German artist Florian Mehnert, which took place on Friday in Stuttgart's John Cranko School. The project aims to highlight the effects of social distancing, according to the artist, and involved dancers clambering into uninflated plastic sacks which were then blown up around them. As no air can enter the bubbles, performers could only pose for photos for a maximum of 15 minutes. The photography project, entitled Social Distance Stacks, also featured the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra performing a piece while enclosed in individual bubbles. "I wanted to highlight the main problem of this social distance, this isolation that affects us, this very painful cut," said Mehnert. "I asked myself, 'how could I show that someone feels isolated?' I thought, we are all in a certain isolation, in an isolated bubble, which we are not allowed to leave. I could show people who’re allowed to be in their bubbles, but who cannot get close to others."
