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 The competition, open to all,
has attracted hundreds of applicants - some
professionals, others youngsters dancing from
lockdown in their homes. A panel of renowned
expert judges assess each dance, and viewers can
also vote with "likes."
"We were struck by the desire of participants to
be seen, to express themselves and their dance,
what is happening to them at the moment," said
Argentine Facundo Luqui, who organized the '@stayhomedancecompetition'
event with two other dancers.
"What we thought when we started this project
was that anyone can participate," added Luqui,
23, who is a member of the ballet company at
Buenos Aires' iconic Teatro Colón.
The competition, which wraps up on Sunday,
challenged dancers to raise awareness about the
pandemic, reference the coronavirus and honor an
artist. In one video, a mother wearing a
doctor's coat and a mask guards her daughter
while she dances.
Giovana Soria, 18, a Paraguayan who has studied
Latin rhythms for two years, said her dance was
to encourage people to take steps to prevent
infections spreading.
"I started to watch the news and saw that many
people respected the quarantine, but when going
out they did not take measures like putting on a
mask, they touched everything and didn't wash
their hands," said Soria.
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 Paz Schattenhofer, an
11-year-old who studies classical dance and who
took part from Buenos Aires, said her
performance was a homage to Russian photographer
Yulia Artemyeva, who made a series of works
comparing ballerinas to flowers.
"I would love to win it but in reality it's to
have fun. It is great when people 'like' you and
that people see me, it is like a stage," she
said.
Performance art globally has been hit hard by
the coronavirus pandemic, closing theaters and
leaving dance troupes unable to perform or
rehearse at close quarters.
"I think dance at the moment is undergoing a
great crisis," said Manuela Lavalle, 24, another
of the organizers, who dances in a company in
the United States but is passing the quarantine
in her native Buenos Aires.
"It's complicated because many companies do not
have the money they need to get by. I believe
the world of dance is going to change a lot and
we still do not know how, but it is a matter of
waiting and continuing to create in the
meantime."
(This story has been corrected to change 'his'
to 'her' in penultimate paragraph)
(Reporting by Lucila Sigal; Editing by Adam
Jourdan and Daniel Wallis)
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