Dancers rejoice
AHorsham dance leader has welcomed the return of indoor classes for juniors and hopes adult classes will resume in the near future.
This year has been a tumultuous one for dancers, who have missed in-person classes for most of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because of low COVID numbers in regional areas, Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday announced rules about indoor sport would be relaxed earlier than the government anticipated.
From today, non-contact indoor physical recreation, such as dance classes, can resume for participants under-18, with a maximum of 20 people.
The Dancers Zone principal dance instructor Lynne Mckenzie said she was thrilled she could resume teaching indoor classes.
“Luckily it has been announced we can return indoors for students under the age of 18,” she said.
“Unfortunately there was no specified return date for over-18s, meaning our adult students will still be dancing outside until restrictions ease yet again.”
Ms Mckenzie said she and her fellow teachers had done their best to deliver classes and help keep students physically and mentally active throughout the pandemic.
When Victoria first entered lockdown restrictions in March, Ms Mckenzie acted quickly to try to retain some form of normality.
“Throughout the first lockdown, we kept dancing going through online classes, so that our students could still get their dance class each week,” she said.
“We recorded our classes and sent them a private link, so they could watch their class as many times as they wanted throughout the week.
“Despite the hard time everyone was going through, we had a great response – it was wonderful to see everyone still enjoying their dancing.”
Students were allowed back in the studio during term three, provided they stuck to State Government guidelines.
“We obviously had guidelines we had to follow to keep everyone safe, such as temperature checks and signing in on arrival, sanitiser stations, and constant cleaning of anything that was touched, like door handles, light switches, sound systems and so on,” Ms Mckenzie said.
“It was just a little bit of work we all had to do to keep everyone safe, but it was so great to be able to be back in the studio again.
“Unfortunately, after a few weeks, there was another wave and we were put back into lockdown, meaning we went back to online classes.”
Ms Mckenzie said families involved loved that The Dancers Zone kept going throughout the pandemic, so they had something to look forward to each week.
Outside option
Before the start of term four, the government announced dancers could not return to the studio, however, they could run classes for a maximum of 10 people outside.
“We simply altered our timetable slightly to keep our numbers in each class under 10, and to get our classes finished before the sun went down,” Ms Mckenzie said.
“We’re pretty lucky to have such a big car park at our studio, so we made use of the back corner, out of the way of traffic to run our classes.
“Our students come to their class each week in their uniform and runners, and we run our classes while still maintaining social distancing.
“We have obviously altered the way we teach as well, to make it safe for students, so no floor work, big jumps or using our tap shoes.”
Ms Mckenzie said this term was simply about ‘having fun’ and getting people dancing.
She thanked everyone involved in The Dancers’ Zone for their dedication and patience.
“I am very lucky to have such an amazing team of teachers who have kept everything going and are still coming up with great ideas for our students to enjoy dancing,” she said.
“I want to say a huge thank you to our families who have continued to support us all year – it really is a big family.”
CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL: Creatures of all types featured at events across Horsham this week, with students from Horsham Primary School showcasing ‘creatures’ they made during remote learning for Book Week activities, and real life ‘creatures’ visiting Horsham Playgroup for Children’s Week. Pictured clockwise from above: student Tyson Robertson shows off his redback spider; Avery and Maddy Bruce meet a golden possum from the petting zoo at playgroup; student Tex Askew with his megalodon; and April Wallis and her daughter Marlow Anson with a squirrel glider.