It has been an interesting start to our 9th season in our Woodstock dance studio. All of our dancers and families have done an incredible job adjusting to our “new normal” due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We are so incredibly proud of how respectful and well-meaning our Footprints Family has been during these challenging times.

During our 6th week of our season, our staff sit down one-on-one with Miss Lainy and have a formal check-in meeting to see how the term is going so far. During these meetings, our staff evaluate their progress as an educator and their classes’ performance so far this season. It is always so interesting to see the developments of our students and staff from the beginning of the season to this time. And this year one of the important things discussed was our Covid-19 health and safety plan.

From execution, to maintenance and how it has affected classes – there was very little in the studio not affected by our health and safety plan. But that is not to say that all of these changes have had negative consequences. There are some things that are staff absolutely love about the changes we had to implement.

Things We Love:

Dancing Squares –

It has been so helpful for our dancers to have the visual reminder of their dancing space. Our dancing squares have helped all of our dancers, especially our little dancers, be mindful of where their dancing space is (cue Dirty Dancing’s Johnny Castle). Colour-coding our dancing squares has also helped our little ones become more clear with their left (yellow line) and right (red line).

Prop Bags –

Our Prop Bags have been such a terrific help for our little ones to gain some responsibility and ownership over their dance props. Our little Teacups and Tulips are always so excited to reach into their prop bag and pull out their very own egg shaker or movement scarf. And even when they forget their bag at home, they are learning an important lesson about responsibility.

Enjoying the Little Things –

When it came to deciding if we should or shouldn’t do some of our “Extra FDC” things like decorate for Halloween or not – the answer was easy, of course! We need to take more time enjoying the small, silly moments with our dance family. We all want a sense of ‘normalcy.’ So being able to provide a decked-out Spooktacular experience for Halloweek for our dancers, like we always do, is incredibly important to us.

Clean, Clean, Extra-Clean Studios –

Everyone loves the feeling of a nice organized and clean house. And its no different at the studio. Our staff have done such a tremendous job keeping up the cleaning standards for our health and safety plan. It is so nice to be able to walk into the studio and know that everything is tidied up and disinfected on a regular basis.

And we can still miss things too!

Of course, there are so many things that we are missing at the studio too. From hugs and high-fives to being able to give our dancers physical corrections, and seeing all of our dance parents in the lobby, there are lots of things still missing at our dance studio.  But by continuing to work together, we know that we will be able to do have all of those lovely things again soon.