When social distancing restrictions came into play, Canberrans found themselves flocking to the capital's lakes for relief.
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Whether it was to exercise, to catch up with a friend or to take a breather from the weirdness that was descending on the city, Lake Burley Griffin, Lake Ginninderra and Lake Tuggeranong became hubs of activity.
It's also what inspired Australian Dance Party's new performance, Lake March.
"I found that fascinating that the lakes ... became these sort of refuges and places of solace," Australian Dance Party leader Alison Plevey says.
"I thought, what if we bought the theatre to the people at the lakes and reframe these spaces as the theatre?
"I imagined this march, that's continually moving with the flow of the people walking around the lake."
Both this weekend and next, Australian Dance Party will take to Canberra's lakes to perform their first work since COVID-19 began.
But like many other organisations and businesses in 2020, Australian Dance Party had to rethink how they do things. This meant not only how many people could watch them perform, but how they danced together.
"Typically with dance ... there is skin-to-skin touch or partnering work or group interaction work, that makes dance interesting because it's about how the bodies work together," Plevey says.
"This was different but not necessarily bad. It was just a different process of approaching it, knowing that you have those strict parameters and, in a way, it's a creative challenge to find something interesting within a rule."
Throughout the 20-minute piece, the performers begin at their furthermost points from each other. Slowly over the three phases of Lake March, they come to as close as 1.5 metres apart.
"We've created this 20-minute loop ... so, I think people hopefully will get to see different aspects of the piece as it unfolds," Plevey says.
"They might just see little snippets of it in a spontaneous moment and that's OK as well. The way we imagined it was that it was this surprise experience of joy."
However, distance restrictions and the popularity of the lakes are not the only things that inspired Lake March. It was also the clothing that people either were or were not wearing.
The performers' costumes are a mix of the formal attire people have stopped wearing and the sneakers they would walk around the lakes in.
"It has been ages since we put on some makeup and go out in your best threads and so we wanted to bring that glamour of going out to the lake," Plevey says.
"But then also we'll be wearing runners, so it's linking with the exercisers running around the lake and people on their walks.
"There is this interesting juxtaposition between the glamour of going out formalwear and the runners, which is quirky"
Australian Dance Party is at Lake Burley Griffin on August 15 and 16, Lake Ginninderra on August 22 and Lake Tuggeranong on August 23. For full details and to reserve a spot go to Eventbrite.
Lake March is presented by the Where You Are Festival with the support of the ACT Government.