Robbie Fairchild's Rooftop Dances Are the Best Thing on Instagram Right Now
You've seen them on Instagram. Two dancers with white sneakers, sliding and leaping and hip shaking on a city rooftop in the sunshine. Sometimes they are perfectly in sync, sometimes they move to their own beat with an errant wrist flick or a shoulder curl. You watch them and can't help but smile.
When the coronavirus pandemic cancelled their upcoming gigs and forced them inside, Tony-award winning Broadway actor Robbie Fairchild—who was previously a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet—and his roommate Chris Jarosz (a freelance dancer and choreographer who has worked with JLo and Taylor Swift) knew they needed to get up and move.
So, they took to the roof, posting short videos of themselves dancing to the soulful sounds of Emily King, and filling a void the city didn't know it needed. T&C spoke with Fairchild about why they started their project and how people can support dancers during the pandemic.
A post shared by Robbie Fairchild (@robbiefairchild) on Mar 20, 2020 at 12:43pm PDT
Why did you start these videos?
I think the arts are the first thing people turn to to lift their spirits and their souls at a dark time. As a performer and an artist, you feel compelled to do something, and I dance because it gives me joy and it gives other people joy. So there was that feeling of what can I do to not lose my sanity and, and bring a little bit of joy? That's what my job in society is right now: to entertain for as long as this takes.
The songs you use are just beautiful. How did you choose them?
I did a photoshoot right before the crackdown happened and [the photographer] played Emily King and I was like, "this song is familiar, who is this artist?" He started going through her catalog and we were fan-girling over it. Her music just makes you want to move your body. It's like she made it for dance, in a way. I just had never known about her, so I loved getting to go through all of her albums. There's so much to pull from.
Do you choreograph beforehand? How much do you rehearse?
It kind of depends on whether there's good lighting on the roof at the moment. We usually do them every other day. We pick the song the day before and kind of marinate in it. And we start at like 10:30 that night in our living room, just kind of playing around with some ideas and then, depending on when the weather is going to be nice the next day, we go up and spend about an hour and a half choreographing and then filming it.
You just use your iPhone to film?
Yeah! I have a little tripod and I just plop it on the roof and hook it up.
A post shared by Chris Jarosz (@itsjarosz) on Mar 26, 2020 at 3:00pm PDT
How can people support dancers, and all artists, right now?
If you had purchased tickets for a show, try not to ask for a refund. The Broadway houses, I mean it's such a dark time and that's the one way that artists lose out, is refunding these people who want their money back for the shows. So you could consider using that ticket price as a donation to all the people who just are out of a job.
Broadway Cares, which was started during the AIDS epidemic, does so much work than just for AIDS, and they have an emergency fund now. And for dancers, Dance NYC, which is an Alliance with Dance USA, has set up a relief fund for organizations and individuals in the New York city area.
Donate to Broadway Cares Donate to Dance NYC
What gives you hope in this moment?
We can get so lost in our own pursuits and things can get complicated, but I think the world is going back to basics. At the end of the day you just pop on a great tune and groove with a great friend. And thank God we live in a time of social media where we can reach out and hold each other's hands virtually.
Dance always finds a way, whether it's in the staircase of your apartment or you clear out the living room, or you get some fresh air and just see the city rooftops and just go "wow." There's something so special about this city and you feel such solidarity and camaraderie with your neighbors. We are a strong city and we are going to rally together.
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