ZOOM CLASSES ARE A SONG AND DANCE.. THEY’RE KILLING THE ARTS
ZOOM classes are killing people’s love of the performing arts, Dáil protesters declared yesterday.
Dance teachers warned that young children’s mental health is at risk if the Government does not allow classes to resume.
School owners and teachers gathered outside Leinster House yesterday afternoon for what organisers said was a socially distanced and silent protest of about 200.
Under Level 3 restrictions, gyms and sports clubs can reopen for ‘individual training’ and gymnastics classes have resumed. Now dance teachers are asking why they are still shut and insisted that dancing, by its very nature, is a socially distanced activity.
They also said that while teachers are allowed to take classes in both primary and secondary schools, they cannot teach in their own schools and studios.
Ciara McDonald of CMD Dance School in Kilkenny told the Irish Daily Mail she had no income for over seven months when her school was forced to close on March 12. However, she said she would open for f ree if i t would help her students who are struggling with their mental health.
‘Most of my students are going to gymnastics classes at the moment,’ she said. ‘What is the difference between kids going in there and coming into me?
‘I opened my dance school at the start of 2019. I wasn’t obliged to do my tax returns until October 2020. The Government said to me, “You’re not entitled to any Covid payment or any unemployment payment because you haven’t paid t ax in a year-and-a-half.”
‘I couldn’t pay my tax returns until that date. I had nothing between March and October.’ Emma Mahony, of the Odette School of Ballet in North Dublin, said some students now say they do not enjoy dancing anymore, and that Zoom is killing their passion for the arts.
‘We want to be respected and appreciated for the educators that we are. We feel really strongly that we can provide a safe environment for our children,’ Ms Mahony told the Mail.
In a statement to the Mail last night, Sport Ireland confirmed that while dance is listed under sports i n the Government’s Covid-19 Recovery Plan, ‘Sport Ireland has no direct relation with the dance community’.
‘We can provide a safe environment’