(File photo/northeastNOW staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Dancing at a distance

New public health restrictions won’t slow down dance classes in Melfort

Nov 30, 2020 | 10:55 AM

Dance classes in Melfort will continue this week but will look slightly different to accommodate new public health restrictions that came into effect on Friday.

According to Melfort Dance Centre owner and artistic director Paulette Puetz, the dance centre can keep classes going as long as there are no more than eight students per class.

“Therefore, we will be offering a combination of in-person classes along with virtual classes for those that have an enrollment of more than eight,” Peutz said.

The average class size at the Melfort studio prior to COVID was between 16 and 22 but for this season, a maximum class size is 16 due to the two-metre distancing guideline.

Class sizes vary between eight and 16, depending on age and class level.

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It came as a bit of a surprise to Puetz who was part of a group of Saskatchewan dance educators that surveyed studios in the province, that dance was included in the new public health measures.

“Over 80 studios responded and since September, over 10,000 individual students participated in over 285,000 classroom spots,” Puetz said. “More than 32,000 classes have safely taken place and zero cases of COVID-19 transmission originated inside dance studios.”

Saskatchewan dance studios have prepared several documents that include protocols implemented to keep dancers, their families, and the instructors safe.

“A meeting was held last week with business response team to review protocols and emphasized that dance studios were surpassing what was required,” Puetz said.

Although the initial announcement was surprising to Puetz, she said relief soon followed because it was still possible to keep moving forward with some adjustments.

Over the weekend, the studio floors were re-taped to meet the new three metre distancing rule and new schedules were created and sent out to dance families to follow until Christmas break.

“We were already masking while entering and exiting the building as well as common areas,” Puetz said. “Over the past couple of weeks, we had begun practicing masking throughout classes as we had predicted this would become a regulation.”

Students were very receptive and supportive and were encouraged to take additional rests after more demanding physical exertion, to slow breathing and heart rate.

The safety and health of everyone involved has been the focus for the Melfort Dance Centre and Puetz said the support and cooperation she has seen from dancers and their families has been phenomenal.

“We truly are a family and being able to express emotion through dance, being able to maintain physical health, and being able to see and support one another has undoubtedly been important for the mental health of not only dancers but for our teachers as well,” Puetz said.

The new provincial health restrictions will last at least until Dec. 17 at which time they are up for review by the Chief Medical Health Officer.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser