Registrations and classes at Gold Pan City Dance look a lot different this year, thanks to a global pandemic.
Jessie Herman owns the studio with her mother, and said they are making it as safe as possible.
“We’ve jumped all the hoops possible to make sure the dance studio is a safe place,” she said.
Some of the measures introduced include limited class sizes, closing the change room, a 40 person occupancy limit, wellness checks for staff and enhanced cleaning procedures.
“Usually this place is just bustling on weekends,” Herman said. “We have to re-train our parents for how the pre-school class is going to work.”
Herman said classes for younger kids will look the most different, with teachers unable to use props or certain activities.
“It’s forced us to get really creative,” she said. “There’s so many groups online for dance teachers, and tons of amazing ideas that I’ve borrowed.”
Herman said the studio was “holding their breath” to see if they would even be allowed to open.
“We’ve lived with a lot of fear in our hearts,” she said. “We’ve done our best to adjust and find new and creative ways to keep people dancing.”
Even the registration process is different. While normally the studio is open for registration, now they’re encouraging people to call instead. Payments are only for two months at a time, just in case a strict lock down returns. If lock down does return, classes will continue online.
“We’re running out of space in our pre-school classes,” Herman said. “I’ve also noticed a lot of kids that say they’re being home-schooled but are still coming to dance.”
Herman said she is planning for performances this year, but isn’t sure what form they will take, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
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