Though the visual arts still have access to us during the pandemic, the performing arts are suffering mightily. From artists who are part of large organizations to individuals in smaller companies, these troupers are largely unable to gather. A few virtual experiences manage to break through to be uplifting in a way that almost feels like the real thing.

The LA Philharmonic, completely shut down both during its seasons at Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl has just begun a series called Sound/Stage focusing on dance music appearing on Fridays. This week's episode, Salon Los Angeles, is an enchanting look at the art of danzon, Mexico's signature ballroom dance as practiced in the vintage Salon in Mexico City (alas, apparently soon to be permanently closed). Gustavo Dudamel, ever inclusive and resourceful, invited some dancers from the Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet company to the Bowl to demonstrate in the empty aisles and he leads the orchestra, socially distanced from each other behind plexiglass screens, in this rousing dance number Danzon Number 1 by Arturo Marquez and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

It is the Danzon that had me up on my feet. This dance which depends on precision, and tightly constructed elegant movements, is fleshed out in a bonus sidebar of goodies, including a very moving conversation with film director Alejandro Inarritu who remembers his in-laws stylish danzons in Veracruz. But it is the poignant images of the dancers in an empty Hollywood Bowl that brought me to tears.