Returning to the dance studio safely (covid-19)

[fiesta0618]

Genuine question (not sarcasm): what are the benefits of doing this kind of lesson in person instead of virtually online? I mean, what are the ways in which this kind of lesson is BETTER in person?

And ARE they indeed worth full price? (CRAAAAAACK! That's the sound of a can of worms being opened.)

Well, let me put it this way. I have had lessons focused on partner work that consisted entirely of double-hand hold. This has been true even with some big-name visiting coaches. By contrast, you can't do ANY kind of partnering virtually.

However, there are a pretty small number of topics for which that is ideal. It was what my partner and I needed at those moments in time, and otherwise we use double-hand hold only occasionally and only for short stretches.

So my take would be that such lessons can be worth the full price. But like Virtual, there are still plenty of topics you cannot cover. Therefore, you might be stuck working on topics that are not the ones you most need at this particular moment.

*********

Also, you can construct Latin and Rhythm choreographies that literally never use closed hold. So that's another direction to take it--focus on non-closed steps and patterns for a while.

 

[Purr]

Genuine question (not sarcasm): what are the benefits of doing this kind of lesson in person instead of virtually online? I mean, what are the ways in which this kind of lesson is BETTER in person?

And ARE they indeed worth full price? (CRAAAAAACK! That's the sound of a can of worms being opened.)

I realize that the pro’s time is valuable, and a very good argument can be made that he should get paid his full rate, regardless of the format of the lesson (e.g., even if he broke his foot and has to teach while sitting in a wheelchair or whatever).

But I’m struggling a little bit to feel good about this. Before I spent the last 8 weeks (specifically: 56 days, 14 hours, and 49 minutes...but who’s counting) out of the studio & away from my pro, I wouldn’t have given this question a second thought.

I guess I’ll find out this evening if it’s worth it to me. My options are limited, after all. Take it or leave it.

Why aren’t the studios making this limitation clear? Is everyone supposed to “just know” that it’s necessary, so it doesn’t have to be spelled out? Hmm...maybe it’s like hand-washing. My studio didn’t spell that out either...maybe it is just such an obvious GIVEN that they don’t need to list it (along with advice such as “grasp the door handle with your hand. Pull the door towards you. Once the door is open wide enough for you to walk forward through the opening, walk forward through the opening, and let go of the door handle”).

But obviously the studios have their work cut out for them, as they have a LOT of bases to cover, and they’ll never be able to please everyone under current county & state & country restrictions. So probably they are doing their best, and minor oversights in written announcements are inevitable (not intentional).

I think I answered this before. The studio isn't offering online lessons at this time. So virtual is a non starter. Even if it was, I don't see as I'd get much out of a watching a computer screen - even it was blown up on a huge monitor. I'm not that kind of learner.

I'm not feeling great about this either. My last dance event was over two months ago, and it was some of best dancing, both technique and expression, I ever did. And now it's gone, and I'm not confident that I'll get it back.

 

[j_alexandra]

... suffice to say, not everyone is of the "independently practicing steps and technique on my own" stripes that dominates this board).

<scuffs feet> <stares at ceiling> <koff>

although I actually *am* independently practicing steps and technique, it's not my preferred form of learning.

 

[lucia_l]

j_alexandra,
I think what I've learned is I benefit from doing drills, working on styling and foot work etc. But I can't pretend that prior to this situation I had any inclination to walk in and say "New Young Guy: Let's work on footwork today!!!". So it's been good for me. That's not to say I don't enjoy things that feel more like "dancing" more.

I do think I am going to want some online lessons from time to time even after the studio has opened. But I would never expect my pro to offer half-off for online teaching when he has the alternative of doing in-person for full price. So when the studio opens, I expect to take some online lessons, but pay the in-person rate. Right now, I get a deal because that was offered.

I think I'm going to propose alternating. It may be a solution that works for the studio anyway because if half my lessons are online, that's one less person in the studio. Depending on logistics, and how many students feel the way I do, it might open up the possibility of more teachers filling more slots.

 

[Warren J. Dew]

I'm not confident that businesses and events will be open in June in Massachusetts, and our cases basically switched from exponential to linear several weeks ago. In Illinois, they went linear less than a week ago. The consensus - or at least the Federal guideline - is that new cases should actually show a clear fall before relaxing mitigations, and I'm not seeing that happen unless the state figures out another effective mitigation. Maybe we could close down mass transit, and I don't think that's likely in Massachusetts.

At this point, there's a discernible slight downward trend in new cases and deaths in Massachusetts since about April 23. It's just hard to see because there's a big oscillation that's approximately weekly, which I think must reflect tests not being run or coroners not doing death certificates on weekends or something like that. At least, I can't think of any reason why actual cases and deaths should oscillate on a weekly basis.

That makes me hopeful that the governor will replace the business closures with mask requirements and such when the current closures expire on May 18. Hopefully that will permit dance studios to open on a reasonable basis as well.

 

[lucia_l]

Warren,
All the reports from almost everywhere have the weekly oscillation. It's almost certainly "the weekend". Sweden has two records for death-- one immediate based on when the deaths reach some reporting agency (this is on Worldmeter) Another one exists where they sort out the real death dates. The world meter data has the oscillation big time. The sorted data doesn't have those oscillations but you need to ignore the most recent 10 days of entries because they aren't updated fully. If you aren't aware of that issue with the other data Sweden's death rate always looks like it's dropped off a cliff in the past 10 days.

 

[worddancer]

Worldometer is mentioned above. Look at the bar charts, not cumulative charts.
US cases are dropping despite increased testing. And daily deaths are trending down.
Don't rely on the media, look at actual numbers. Scroll down to look for daily bar charts.

United States COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

United States Coronavirus update with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, mortality and recovery rates, current active cases, recoveries, trends and timeline.

www.worldometers.info

 

[ProgressNotPerfection]

And ARE they indeed worth full price? ...Before I spent the last 8 weeks (specifically: 56 days, 14 hours, and 49 minutes...but who’s counting) out of the studio & away from my pro, I wouldn’t have given this question a second thought.

I guess I’ll find out this evening if it’s worth it to me. My options are limited, after all. Take it or leave it.

YESYESYESYESYES!!!!!!!!! They are worth it! I’ll take it!
Actually, it felt almost like a regular lesson - even though we both wore masks and didn’t do the normal dance holds. I’ve gotten so used to seeing IFP on my iPad that I almost forgot what it’s like to have a 3D teacher. The 360 degrees of viewing capability and the immediate feedback make this type of lesson better than virtual, for me.
And it was very very very nice to have a big wide open dance space and to have floor to ceiling mirrors on the walls.
There was only 1 other teacher/student pair in the studio, both wearing masks.
Pro told me to go wash my hands with soap before I even put on my dance shoes, and told me to do it again at the end of the lesson.
Our studio doesn’t serve food or drinks (even at socials).
Overall, the opportunities for germ transmission appear to be extremely limited under the studio’s current setup. That is reassuring.

 

[j_alexandra]

j_alexandra,
I think what I've learned is I benefit from doing drills, working on styling and foot work etc. But I can't pretend that prior to this situation I had any inclination to walk in and say "New Young Guy: Let's work on footwork today!!!". So it's been good for me. That's not to say I don't enjoy things that feel more like "dancing" more.

Oddly, I have indeed gone into a lesson and said, Hey, Teach, let's talk about (X), whether it's footwork, body position, where/when to put body weight in a particular figure, or a particular part of a figure, or how/when to articulate the ankle, or or or

But doing it by myself has bitten me in the butt more often than I care to remember. And having had to un-learn things I've nearly cemented into muscle memory, more than once: yeah. No.

Plus partnering. Hard to practice that by yourself. No matter how often Teach says, "Use your imagination."

 

[raindance]

Worldometer is mentioned above. Look at the bar charts, not cumulative charts.
US cases are dropping despite increased testing. And daily deaths are trending down.
Don't rely on the media, look at actual numbers. Scroll down to look for daily bar charts.

United States COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

United States Coronavirus update with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, mortality and recovery rates, current active cases, recoveries, trends and timeline.

www.worldometers.info

Last I heard, US cases were dropping overall because NY has been dropping. This thing hit NY hardest first in the US, and now NY is improving. Other areas vary - some are steady, some decreasing, some increasing. Some areas never got hit hard. Others are just starting to get hit harder now, etc. My area sure isn't dropping yet, we've been flattening a long time with pretty intensive mitigation. Other areas near me are increasing. And yes, some other areas are decreasing. I've been watching numbers locally (local cities, counties, states more intently than other areas, but also looking at overall numbers from time to time).

By the way, in case I've given the wrong impression, I am not anti-opening, of dance studios or other things in a general sense. I am against things opening too fast, too soon, with not enough precautions on every level (individual actions like masks, individual business precautions and policies, city/county/state response capabilities, etc). And of course, I'm in charge of exactly nothing other than how my family reacts to this, and I know this.

Some areas may be truly ready to relax precautions and keep monitoring and see how it goes. But many areas are opening for other reasons - people are sick of restrictions, businesses and people are struggling, politics, etc. I am very sympathetic with many of these non-virus concerns (at least the non-political ones).

 

[Purr]

YESYESYESYESYES!!!!!!!!! They are worth it! I’ll take it!
Actually, it felt almost like a regular lesson - even though we both wore masks and didn’t do the normal dance holds. I’ve gotten so used to seeing IFP on my iPad that I almost forgot what it’s like to have a 3D teacher. The 360 degrees of viewing capability and the immediate feedback make this type of lesson better than virtual, for me.
And it was very very very nice to have a big wide open dance space and to have floor to ceiling mirrors on the walls.
There was only 1 other teacher/student pair in the studio, both wearing masks.
Pro told me to go wash my hands with soap before I even put on my dance shoes, and told me to do it again at the end of the lesson.
Our studio doesn’t serve food or drinks (even at socials).
Overall, the opportunities for germ transmission appear to be extremely limited under the studio’s current setup. That is reassuring.

It's kind of funny that your pro told you to wash your hands before and after the lesson. That would seem self-evident. I'd both wash my hands with soap, and use hand sanitizer afterwards. What do you think I bought all those cute little bottles from B&B Works for??!!

You mentioned food or drinks in your post. Does your studio allow students to bring a bottle of water with them to a lesson, and take it with them when they leave? I have to have water during a lesson, especially if it's a double.

 

[ProgressNotPerfection]

Does your studio allow students to bring a bottle of water with them to a lesson, and take it with them when they leave? I have to have water during a lesson, especially if it's a double.

I’m not sure. In the old days, yes, certainly. I usually brought in a bottle of water with me. And they have a big water cooler onsite with disposable paper cups, which we all used regularly, especially during social dances. But I am assuming the water cooler is off limits now... and even if it IS available, I don’t plan to use it any time soon.

 

[IndyLady]

So.... I had a text exchange with the studio yesterday evening about some other matters (lesson count tracking), and almost as an afterthought, the last text was "we can talk after your lesson, we are opening the studio May 18".

I don't want to get too critical too fast, but I'd feel a lot better if (a) I was seeing this information publicly on their FB page, and (b) additional information was provided re: social distancing, masks, cleaning protocols, etc. I'm concerned (perhaps incorrectly... in all fairness, that was really just a heads up, and long texts are hard) about how much caution will be taken during this re-opening, or if it will just be a cavalier "pretend like this all never happened" approach.

 

[Greybeard]

My teacher called yesterday. She is opening for private lessons. Two of her 70+ yo students have wives with compromised immune systems so they're not coming back yet. I'm going to go from one to two hours and take half the lesson of the guy following me.

There are several other studios in the area that have opened already. Tennessee didn't issue a stay at home order, just shut down everyplace worth going to. Most of that is being relaxed, gyms are opening, but places like lazertag where body contact happens are not supposed to open.

The active cases bar chart seems to be pretty stable except for the outbreak at one of the prisons.

Now to find a mask, and hope she caught my hint that I expect both of us to wear them.

 

[Purr]

I’m not sure. In the old days, yes, certainly. I usually brought in a bottle of water with me. And they have a big water cooler onsite with disposable paper cups, which we all used regularly, especially during social dances. But I am assuming the water cooler is off limits now... and even if it IS available, I don’t plan to use it any time soon.

Thank you. I've noticed water fountains and coolers are all shut down in public places. I seldom use them anyway.