By Julia Caulfield

In a darkened Palm Theatre students are scattered around, sat 6 feet apart, all wearing masks. The stage is lit, all of a sudden music pumps through the air.

“Our theme this year is ‘The Stories that Make Us’”, says Sophia Watkins, a senior at Telluride High School and co-director and choreographer of this year’s Telluride AIDS Benefit Student fashion show.

“Our point this year is; everyone has their story. We have our story. Our story is putting the show together during a pandemic” Watkins says, “But just because COVID’s happening, doesn’t take away from the AIDS pandemic, doesn’t take away from the Black Lives Matter cause, doesn’t take away from anything else. So we really want this to just be about anyone who’s going through a hard time right now.”

Putting the fashion show on during COVID means it inevitably looks different. Watkins’ directing and choreographing counterpart, Bella Galbo says models were broken into cohorts to limit potential contact tracing, rehearsals were limited and kept small.

“Social distancing, so six-feet, no touching within the choreography. That adds a lot of restrains on what can do. So we had to really come up with a lot new things, be really creative on how we can choreograph things that are intriguing to an audience without touching,” she notes.

A COVID fashion show also means there isn’t an audience. The show this year is filmed – by local filmmaker Stash Wislocki. On a weekend in February the models move through each line, giving it 100%, as scattered cheers from fellow models and students pepper the space.

Jessica Galbo, Executive Director of the Telluride AIDS Benefit, notes she wasn’t originally sure whether to go through with the fashion show or not.

“From an organizational perspective we had to make the decision if we were going to move forward with the student show, or bypass this year and take a year off,” Galbo says. “Our number one concern was just keeping everybody safe.”

But she says the students were up to the challenge, and the payoff has been magical.

“It feels really really special,” Galbo explains, “It feels special every year, but this year there’s a tenderness to it. Everyone who sees it kind of has the same response, it’s really emotional. It’s emotional to see the students masked, and also giving it 110%, and going for it on stage. It’s been a beautiful process – even though it’s been a challenge – it’s really been inspiring.”

With all the hoops to jump though, protocol to follow, precautions to take, it would be easier to just scrap the show this year. But for Watkins and Bella Galbo, the fashion show is about more strutting your stuff on the runway. They want to remind people that the HIV/AIDS crisis didn’t go away just because of COVID.

“Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in your own life, because a lot of us have a lot of different things going on right now,” says Bella Galbo, “but watching the show, I want people to realize ‘oh wow. There’s this whole other thing outside of me’. Even if you’re not directly experiencing it, or aren’t close to someone who is experiencing AIDS or HIV. You want to realize it is still happening, and it’s something that everyone should care about.”

Proceeds from the fashion show this year will go towards TAB’s beneficiaries – HIV/AIDS organizations in Colorado, Utah, Ethiopia, and Swaziland.

The TAB Student Fashion Show will be available to watch online from March 25th to April 25th. Tickets are available at tellurideaidsbenefit.org.

TAB’s Adult Fashion show has been pushed back…it will take place outside – at the Telluride Airport – this summer.