Studio UPDATE for April
Dear all my amazing parents,
This is such a fluid, changing-by-the-day worldwide crisis we are in currently.
Most of you who have been with my studio for any length of time and have seen me grow my school over the last five years know how much of a “planner” I am.
I have our ENTIRE season until the end of summer planned out at the beginning of each August and to me, our plans are set in stone and nothing should interfere! It takes me weeks each summer to get our yearly schedule done, and so many things planned for our competition team and our recital events. So, you can imagine how stressful this has been on me in regards to the studio and our dancing. It has paused everything, taken all our competitions away from our team girls abruptly right as they were ready to step on stage, after working so hard since AUGUST and with NO promise or exact answer to when things will be “normal” again and when our kids may take these dances on stage.
We also only technically had two months left of our recreational season leading up to our big recital the first weekend of June, we already ordered costumes, booked the venue, finished choreography or almost finished, and so many other reasons that makes it feel we should not just give up on everything because we were SO CLOSE to the end reward.
I wish I could tell you that recital is DEFINITELY happening on June 6th and 7th and I wish I could tell you that we will DEFINITELY be back in the studio practicing together on April 15th when the schools are set to open. However, so many things could change within a few days, let alone a few weeks from now. It would be wrong to say these things as a definite to you and the kids, when I know in my head that things could very well NOT be back to normal by the 15th.
Since I started typing this up three days ago, our President has since even declared social distancing until April 30th so I am waiting for the school reopening date to be pushed back until then. It’s all so unstable and nobody knows what the next day or week may bring.
However, I am staying optimistic (one might call me playing pretend and using my imagination) that we will somehow be able to have our show and have our competition season at some point. Everything could possibly be pushed into the summer or we may re-evaluate and skip a month in the summer and reorganize in the fall and have a Fall show and do Fall regionals with our routines from this season we have been working on.
I have gone over so many scenarios trying to work through all the details; however, it’s very hard when we have no promise of a “back to normal” date or knowing when we will be allowed to gather in groups (which is the very premise of what all of this is regarding classes, routines, mass shows at the theatre, costume picture day etc.) and my main concern is the safety of our children, parents, and the world.
Recital Dates
I am waiting to hear back from the head of the theatre department at Polk State College.
As you may know, all college classes and the general campus are cancelled for the remainder of the semester. I reached out to ask if our show is still on for the weekend of June 6th and 7th and of course she emailed me back, but she couldn’t answer me definitely just as NOBODY knows exactly when this will be over.
This is all very upsetting and I am just trying to take it day-by-day and week-by-week so that myself and these kids still have something to hold onto during this time, especially since everything else is being stripped away from us. I know they will all be starting virtual school next week, which is awesome!
Classes and Competitions/Conventions
Many studios across the nation have closed for the season and are planning to just close for now until things are allowed to reopen as normal and then pick up where they left off, but MOST of us dance teachers and studio owners are going to be continuing working with our kids via ZOOM and pre-recorded videos so that recital dances can still be learned and practiced and competition routines can still be kept up.
The week of March 13, we were supposed to be attending JUMP competition/convention in Orlando. We were so excited as we had some brand new competition routines ready to take the stage for the first time and solos ready for their debut as well. It also would have been our Petite Team’s very first competition and convention, and they all have been working on these routines since August!
That week I started listening to the news everyday and I could tell this virus was growing and becoming a concern for America. Back in February, some of my students had been talking about it asking if we should be wearing masks at Revel (our competition we attended in Orlando in February) because of coronavirus and I brushed them off and told them that it is not in America and not to joke about it.
During the week coming up on Jump Convention in March, our government started encouraging the cancellations of mass gatherings. I immediately knew in my heart that this was going to affect our competition season; if not the immediate one happening that very weekend, the ones in the coming weeks for sure. Thursday, March 12th in the morning I typed up an email and sent it to our team moms giving some guidelines for the weekend at the convention because I was starting to worry and I knew some of the moms were as well. I gave allowances that the girls didn’t need to come to awards ceremonies, only needed to be in the convention area with the crowds when they ABSOLUTELY had to, get dressed and do hair and makeup in your hotel room or car instead of using the mass dressing room with hundreds of other dancers, eat lunch away from convention area, have the girls wash their hands between each class and before and after eating, stay away from people who are sneezing or coughing, etc.
At that point, our competition had not been cancelled but I knew it could be in minute. We came into the studio that night to have our one last big practice and “pep rally” for our competition and convention that weekend and in the middle of the evening around 6:30, I got the email that they were abruptly cancelling the event.
I sat the girls down and told them, and they thought I was joking at first. I had never seen them look at me that way before with total confusion and seriousness. I then told them that night that the schools will probably close beginning the following week and if that happens, be prepared to be on ZOOM with me for practice the following week because the studio will be closed. I had already spent the last few days researching and reading about live conference apps to use for class and other resources because I Knew this was a possibility. And I am so thankful for Ms. Christie for already having us up and running with the most amazing website and technology. We were already on the virtual path before it was absolutely necessary! We already had webpages with helpful videos for our classes and such! So we were a little ahead of the game and I am so thankful for her. Throughout all of this, I would brainstorm and say “we need to do this, or I need to be able to do that” and she would do the research and the tech work and figure it out and get it set up. We all need to appreciate and thank her for everything when you get the chance because she is such an asset to this studio, team, and program.
So, our competition was cancelled, we set up Zoom, we spent the first week (week of March 16-20) with a few days of competition practice together on Zoom. At that point, we were thinking things would be normal by today (the 30th) when schools originally said they would be back on and we would be back in studio. In my head, Showstopper competition was still on for April 3-5 so we needed to keep working to be ready to jump back in by the 30th (today) and be ready to be on stage at competition (which would have been THIS coming weekend) The last two days of that first week we had some of our recital classes practice and thank you for all the parents who were so quick on your feet with me and had your kids up and going on ZOOM that very first week. That was so amazing that your kids could feel normalcy when everything got flipped so suddenly.
Then, I went into Spring Break thinking “well, these kids are home with nothing to do, nobody should be going anywhere like a normal spring break because we are all supposed to be staying home and not going out so I will teach some fun classes so they have something to look forward to and for me to have some creative outlet this week as well”. For several reasons, I changed my mind and spent the week doing some of my house projects that I haven’t had time for (still not finished!) and spent time with my daughter. I normally don’t get to do much of that either, because she goes to school 9:00-3:00 and then I’m normally at dance 3:30-9:30, and recently I have been at studio a lot on Saturdays and Sundays getting ready for our “now non-existent” competition season.
So this weekend brought on a new task of trying to figure out what to do moving forward. With no end in sight of when this will be over. We are still growing in cases and a peak is not here, and definitely a decline nowhere near happening yet; who knows when we will have a show or a competition to attend? It could be months.
HERE IS WHAT I AM ASKING:
Recreational Dancers who plan to still be in recital when the time comes:
- Parents, please keep your dancer engaged and inspired and encourage them to keep dancing. Have them do my scheduled zoom classes to work on their recital routines and also any of my videos I post to learn fun combos. Have them do my stretch and warmup everyday. If you would like you dancer to be in the recital at some point, they will be required to keep working virtually. If everything gets opened back up surprisingly right before June, we could still have our show as scheduled but only if everyone has been working hard at home. On the other hand, it could be pushed back to the Fall, but everyone would still need to be working in the meantime. And no, I wouldn’t be able to tell you a date or a literally any details, and that is the hardest part for me because I am a major planner.
- Keep up with my REMIND texts, Instagrams(esprit_dance_academy) (keep_dancing_esprit), Facebook, our website and Youtube. All this info in the email and on our website (here)with info on how to sign up for remind and follow our pages on social media and subscribe to our Youtube channel.
Tuition:
One bright side of this (and I have been making a list of positive things!) is that we were close to end of year with only two tuition payments left (April and May). Costumes were already paid and ordered, recital fees were already paid.
In order to continue with my virtual program I am asking for at least half tuition for April from everyone so that I can help keep the business going so we HAVE a studio to come back to after all this is over.
Reasons for half tuition:
- we already missed a week in March (spring break doesn’t count since it’s factored into yearly tuition for that week to be missing anyway), and now we are out of studio for two weeks and probably four now that social distancing measures have been extended again.
- I won’t be able to offer the same exact classes as in the studio through ZOOM, Ms. Caitlin cannot do ZOOM so I am having to fit in more classes with my ONE self throughout each week, and other reasons.
- Each routine practice will be shorter than the normal weekly class. However, I WILL be doing some pre-recorded videos during the day and posting those in addition to the hours I spend on Zoom each evening for rehearsal on recital dances.
Many of you have already reached out to me and told me very quickly that you will be paying FULL tuition, regardless if I require it, and let me tell you I have started crying at the outpouring of support from parents throughout this entire thing. This would be ideal, so that I can still pay the studio bills as normal and keep this going that I have grown for 5 years to this point. I just don’t feel right REQUIRING full tuition right now, but I know everything will work out. I have faith this will not destroy my studio as a business because I have enough caring, supportive parents who want to do as much as they can to help and support.
What we will do is this:
- we will post full tuition on Jackrabbit. It will give you the option to pay half tuition and you can choose that if you need to. Those who can pay full tuition, you can do so and I will consider half for the ‘now’ and the rest will eventually be credited to a future date when we are back and running as normal. The payments made now will help me to keep overhead paid during this time and generally keep the studio ready for when things are normal again and I so greatly appreciate that!
- If you have already paid for the year in full I will credit half of April and May towards future tuition same as people paying them month by month.
- If you are on autodraft, those will go as normal unless you reach out to us.
- I know there is an economic toll and some parents are losing jobs, losing paychecks, or making less in general right now. I have gone through the list of my parents and realized that most of you are fortunate and have essential jobs or jobs that you can still work and do from home. However, I KNOW I have a few parents who may be feeling the financial effects of coronavirus. For those who have concerns on being able to pay half tuition and keep your dancer in the program for our eventual recital, please REACH OUT TO ME so we can work it out. Call me personally so we can talk 863-585-7861. Leave a message if I miss your call.
I also want to THANK Ms. Christie for EVERYHTHING and you all should send her some texts, phonecalls, messages thanking her for running our amazing website and having us already on ahead of the virtual game before all of this even began! We have been posting videos for our kids to practice their dances at home, posting music for everyone to practice, etc all on the website and now, more than ever, are we SOOOO grateful we already had a lot of this in place!
Competition Team/Performance Members:
Half tuition still applies with the option to pay in full to support the studio and the half will be eventually credited to a full tuition payment down the road for when we are up and running normally again.
Team however, needs to understand that there are some optional virtual conventions going on and we may send info out for these. If you would like to be able to extras like this during this time, you will need to be able to pay full tuition to the studio first before I am able to register you for optional virtual conventions.
>You parents are amazing and I am so thankful for your dedication in making sure your dancer has been working hard and logging in on Zoom. Also, I am seeing them have more and more space, I am seeing living rooms rearranged and lighting provided and I am soooo grateful for all of your efforts! It’s so important they have as good of a space as they can, as this may be our new normal for a length of time, months even. I know it may disrupt your household, and I know it’s not ideal, but NONE of this is ideal. This is where that “family sacrifice and lifestyle choice” verbiage from our team contract kicks in. Who would have thought it would be a pandemic, but here we are and we must prevail for our kids if we want to see them onstage in the future the way we KNOW their dances can look and feel.
Mentioning that, this is the time that those with more dedication and passion are going to come out of this stronger than the rest. Dancers who don’t have to be MADE to get up and practice or put their dance clothes on and hair up for virtual class. They shouldn’t have to be begged to get up and work.
We need an EVEN and EQUAL team, we were SOO good, our routines were looking so amazing. If you allow your dancer to slip back in this time, if they miss ZOOM, don’t do their daily homework (which I am making a list) your dancer is going to come back in at a different level than their teammates and I do not want that to happen. I need each dancer to be “pulling their weight” during this time and the hardest part is self-discipline.
I know is hard for some kids. If you need to put it in perspective for them remind them that at some point we will all be in the studio and the ones who worked hard during this time will reap the natural rewards, and the ones who didn’t will see the natural consequences of not being able to keep up; it might get their mindset right. I have already stressed this to them, but I cannot be at your house to get them up out of bed, into dance clothes, and open up the computer and be ready on time. I cannot hold their hand and walk them though everything. I really need parent’s INVOLVEMENT and support more than EVER.
Competitions and Conventions
As I get updates from competitions which have postponed, I will let you all know. As of right now, JUMP, Showstopper, Radix, Starbound Daytona have OFFICIALLY cancelled. However, all of us have had the cancellation emails for NUVO Miami, so I am sure that one is coming up cancelled. StarPower Lakeland has also just officially cancelled.
I went ahead and entered ALL our routines for KAR lakeland and 24/7 Orlando, and VIP Orlando(this is Break The Floor, so will be a good one to transfer our Jump fees to) and these are all in MAY. However, once again, we don’t know what the country will look like in another week, let alone over a month, so we shall see. I will not be taking the girls to compete if we have only had a week or a few days to practice for real in the studio anyway. So, we would need the two weeks AT LEAST leading up to any of these back in the studio practicing.
It could very well be that we have no regional season this year. Our first performance MAY be recital, and then if regionals reschedule over the summer we do that or wait for the Fall regionals that all the competitions normally do. I just have NO answers at this time, and neither does anyone else, and it’s very stressful and sad. All we can do is keep dancing anyway and dance JUST as if we are going to be onstage soon!
My main goal is that we ALL come out of this healthy, happy, strong, and excited to get back to work in the studio!
Please stay safe ABOVE all other things!