Wow! We are so HAPPY to be back in classes with our students! It makes my heart feel so full to know that every day we serve children who are getting the chance to connect with friends and role models in their teachers and other staff at Elite to further their love of dance!
These have been interesting months to say the least and my job as the owner of Elite Dance Academy has been to ensure that we are doing everything we can to provide the best instruction we can in the safest way possible.
I take my job very seriously at Elite, so when putting together our plan for reopening, I went above and beyond to support the staff and our students and ultimately their families. I have created personal contacts in both of our county health departments and communication with state representatives as a great foundation. I also have had weekly meetings with peers all across the United States to understand best practices in the dance industry and other like industries. I have created a working document to navigate all requirements that outlines what we will be doing for the next 12 months in this new world with several different plans depending on where we are at any given time.
I have also had a lot of conversations with new and returning families coming to Elite and realize that during this very busy time of year, you might not have read our paperwork line by line to know how much time and energy we have put into our dedication to being a safer studio for you. You also probably haven’t been in to the studios much, if at all, because of our lobby being closed to all except our dancers.
So here are a few things we are doing to take care of our families as outlined also in our paperwork sent to you.
Wellness
- All staff members are wellness checked before their shift.
- In addition to our outstanding rigorous safety and wellness training, all teachers and staff members will receive regular and continuing safety training as it relates to preventing community spread of COVID-19.
- Any staff member or student showing signs of sickness will be sent home.
- Parents are asked to not send their children to classes if they have fever or respiratory symptoms or live in a household with someone exhibiting fever or respiratory symptoms.
- Parents are asked to not send their children to classes if they have had exposure risk to COVID-19 in the last 14 days.
- Our employees will be wearing masks.
- Mask wearing for students ages 11 and up and any visitors (including parents) is required. Mask wearing for students under the age of 11 is at parental discretion.
Facility and Curricular Adjustments
- All lobby waiting areas, children’s play spaces, student lounges, staff room, etc will be closed unless specified.
- Please bring clearly labeled water bottles. Drinking fountains will not be available.
- Dancers will bring all dance bags into the studio for changing shoes. Student lounges will be closed. Bathrooms will be available for toileting only, but not for changing clothes.
- No food will be allowed in the studio.
- Curricular adjustments have been made to eliminate shared prop use and hand-holding and to reduce mixing and mingling in the classroom.
- Class sizes have been modified to reflect current state and county recommendations.
- Classrooms will refrain from high fives, “ballerina hugs”, fist bumps, stickers, and stamps.
- Classrooms will have staggered dismissal (3-5 minutes) to allow for student transitions.
All of these steps are being implemented daily and are working very well! We are proud to have two weeks of operations already! We have put many measures in place outside of those above to continue to provide the very best to your children to allow them continual social interactions in a fun and nurturing environment. We know how important it is for them to be with each other and with us.
We will provide continuous communication with our families with any new developments that occur and with any new policies that we put in place to continue to support you. Thank you for making Elite your SAFER STUDIO dance home! Please let us know if we can do anything to further support you and your children.
