Drewitz School of Dance started their new year in August after a long and precise process of communicating and arranging everything so that students could proceed with classes safely.
Studio owner Lorie-Gay Drewitz-Gallaway said that professional dance organizations across Canada and around the world had to come up with a safe reopening plan. The work began in the middle of April. A lot of advice came from European and English schools, which experienced the pandemic earlier and harder than what Estevan saw at the same time.
The Canadian School of Dance also helped a lot by sharing the experiences of Canadian organizations, which varied depending on the region. The collective work allowed them to come up with a good understanding and a plan of the reopening process.
The Drewitz School of Dance reopened on Aug. 17 for in-person classes at the studio with the students.
"All the physical distancing rules were in place for as far as temperature checks, COVID form waivers, sanitizing stations. It was all set up already," said Drewitz-Gallaway.
The staff is wearing masks for teaching and working at the desk, which Drewitz-Gallaway said is pretty hard and they have to practise some breathing exercises and take breaks. Students dance without any facial covers at this time.
The waiting area of the studio is closed to the public and registering takes place by appointment only.
"These rules are still ever-changing and we take our direction from the health organization and the government ruling," said Drewitz-Gallaway, adding that they are fortunate in comparison to their colleagues in Europe, which is experiencing the second wave of the pandemic and where dance schools have a lot more regulations to follow, often including mandatory masks for students.
The situation is monitored daily and Drewitz-Gallaway participates in regular Zoom meetings with other organizations co-ordinating their effort to keep everyone safe and still dancing.
Despite all the challenges the most important was that children could finally get back to practising.
"The children are loving it. The rules took a little bit of getting used to them for parents and students, but they understand," said Drewitz-Gallaway.
Unlike a lot of other recreational or community-organized activities, the Drewitz School of Dance is a professional organization and has to follow the performing arts and small business rules, which at times differ from others.
To keep distance between students, Drewitz-Gallaway had to decrease the size of classes. She could have up to 24 people in the studio but chose to limit it to 22 to ensure there is enough room. So classes are down a bit. American students also can't attend the in-person classes due to border closure, so they were taking classes in a different format.
"Those are the only children right now who have ever done any online classes, I did that during the pandemic. Children can learn mentally during the online classes, but physically to get their stamina, mobility and flexibility, all that back, you need to be doing it physically," said Drewitz-Gallaway.
Drewitz School of Dance is slowly opening up with more classes including ladies and some pre-school coming back as the fall progresses.
“I'm a firm believer that we need to take this slow and see how it goes."
The fall also brought some good news for Drewitz-Gallaway personally as the Royal Academy of Dance granted her the life membership. And even though they can’t hold any big events now, she felt very excited.
“That was a high point for me this month,” said Drewitz-Gallaway.
All the exams are set up for the year. Highland exam will take place at the studio with Drewitz-Gallaway playing the music, and the examiner joining online from Scotland.
"We have a whole new set of rulings for ballet, tap, jazz, highland all the different exams that are all set up some via Zoom. The Canadian Dance Teachers' ones will be held at the studio because they have rules where the examiner sits, she wears a mask, children are back far enough," said Drewitz-Gallaway.
While the exam plans are pretty clear, when it comes to performances and workshops there is not much clarity.
"We are just going monthly and keeping our fingers crossed, but no one can project what the future will bring. And right now we just have to have faith that everyone will abide by the rules, not just to keep dancing but for everyone's safety."
Usually, students have one or two events a month where they could show their skills, talents and progress, and while this year most of the events are cancelled and others can't allow for big crowds, Drewitz-Gallaway said that they are set up to participate and perform in different formats like via submitting a recorded performance or Zooming in.
"When the children are blocked off in their little personal dance stage in the studio I always say to them, 'I want you to feel like you are on stage because you are going to be back on stage, we just don't know when.' And you have to keep that faith going with them," said Drewitz-Gallaway.
She added that even though the year will look different, they are still very thankful that they got to go ahead and proceed with in-person classes.
"We are all going through unprecedented times, and we still have to live each day to the fullest and be grateful for what we have in our lives. If the children are grateful for that dance starting up that makes me and my staff very happy because anything we can do for them right now is important to us," Drewitz-Gallaway said.
