An Okanagan dance studio owner hopes the B.C. government isn’t setting the stage for future closures, as venues that operate indoor group fitness activities are ordered to pause operations this week due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ashlie Atkinson, the owner of the Balance School of Performing Arts in Penticton, B.C., said she had flashbacks to the spring when dance studios were forced to shut down and move online.
“It’s scary because I thought that chapter had passed. And so I’m just feeling like ‘Are we headed back that direction?'” Atkinson said.
“What is the short-term, long-term outcome of this?”
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health released updated province-wide coronavirus restrictions, which included the temporary suspension of dance, gymnastics, martial arts, yoga, Pilates, and cheerleading until public health develops new guidance to ensure safe operations.
Facilities will not need to seek permission from local health authorities before re-opening, but there will be increased inspections, the ministry said in a statement.
Spin classes, hot yoga and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) are suspended indefinitely.
Atkinson said she’s gone above and beyond to ensure a safe dancing environment, including no spectators, limited class sizes, masks in common areas, and disinfecting in between classes.
Students dance in the same cohorts on the same schedules and parents can download an app to watch a Livestream of the classes online.
“There’s very low risk. I feel we have made it as safe as we could possibly make it,” she said.
“I feel like it’s just a general shut it down, with not thinking. Well, have you come into our space? Have you seen what we are doing?”
Parent Kristin Maier said attending dance classes in-person has helped her daughter, aged 12, cope with the stress and uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
“I have noticed such a change in her. It has been so great for our whole family, to watch the kids, to maintain some kind of normality,” she said.
“Dance has really helped me cope through these times of so much difference,” said her daughter, Rowyn.
“The status quo has been changed, there is a new norm, and it’s all so weird and different. I can come back to dance and do the same thing and have some sort of normal in my life.”
Maier said her family has refrained from going to restaurants or seeing extended family, but the dance studio is one of their only safe spaces.
“I know that they are doing everything they can to keep my kids safe,” she said.
The Ministry of Health said B.C. is seeing record COVID-19 transmission and hospitalizations, and it’s putting a strain on testing staff, contact tracers, and front-line health-care workers.
The province said the restrictions are aimed at reducing rapid transmission in indoor settings, including during group fitness activities.
It points to the Capella Dance Academy COVID-19 outbreak in Chilliwack, B.C., earlier this month, where 38 people contracted the virus, resulting in 13 school exposures, as an example of how a dance studio can be a high-risk environment.
“Right now we all need to focus our efforts on slowing the spread and bending our curve back down,” the ministry said.
Atkinson said a COVID-19 outbreak in her own studio would be unlikely.
“My heart goes out to that owner when you’re leading a community and something like that happens. However, I feel at Balance, we are offering some really cutting-edge steps in keeping our families and dancers safe,” she said.
Atkinson became emotional while expressing gratitude to the dance families who have supported her during this tumultuous time.
“We are so thankful for our Balance community, and I get choked up thinking about it because they always just give support and say ‘Don’t worry, we are behind you.'”
Meanwhile, the Royal Academy of Dance Canada, the governing body for ballet practice in B.C., said it’s seeking clarity on how the restrictions impact training and exams.
“RAD Canada is reaching out to the B.C. government, sharing with them the frustration, confusion, and uncertainty the government’s inconsistency is causing the dance community,” it said in a letter to studio owners.
“We are also asking for similar treatment with other indoor physical training activities, such as team sports practices.”