By Luke Voogt
Junior dancers are getting ready to hit the floor next week after the state government announced changes to COVID-19 restrictions for under 18s.
DanceWorks Geelong director Jana Kolacz welcomed the changes which mean “no limits” on student numbers for under-18 group classes, beginning next Monday.
“There was a lot of relief for us because it meant that we didn’t have to reschedule our whole timetable to have 10 kids per class,” she said.
“Dance studios were one of the first [businesses] to be impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions, with our business being closed for 13 weeks now.
“It will be interesting now to see how many children are returning to our classes. I think that will be the next challenge.”
Ms Kolacz signed a petition, alongside more than 140 dance school operators statewide, earlier this month calling for changes to the initially-proposed 10-person limit.
“We had seen dance classes recommence in schools with 20-plus students without any of the social distancing measures and precautions,” she said.
“We have been trying to plan for classes in our studios, so that was very disheartening.”
Many dance studios offered classes online during the pandemic but often students found this challenging and uptake was “poor”, Ms Kolacz said.
She looked forward to resuming classes after developing “COVID-safe plans in line with legislation”, she said.
“As a registered occupational therapist and qualified dance and yoga teacher, I see first-hand the positive impact that dance and movement have on the wellbeing of people, no matter what age.
“We’re so excited to be able to resume again in some capacity, but still have a long journey ahead to rebuild our businesses.”
