10/11/2020
The following letter was sent to the following email addresses: [email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected].
Dear Premier, Honourable Ministers, and Doctors,
We represent a group of 500 dance schools across the Province, who have worked hard to develop and practice what we believe are some of the safest protocols anywhere, including provincial schools and other children's activities.
Children's Dance is NOT a contact activity. Our dancers and dancers across the Province are training in physically-distanced spaces, practicing hand hygiene, and are subjected to daily screening activity. These children attend school together and are often in the same social bubbles. Children's dance is the ONLY children's activity that has been ordered closed in Toronto, Ottawa, and Peel.
Children's Gymnastics, Karate, Sports, and other activities are all allowed to continue in modified form, but Dance has been unfairly categorized with gyms and fitness. There is simply no real comparison of a children's dance class and an adult gym facility. We would strongly encourage a visit to a dance studio to understand how we are managing and keeping children safe.
Our industry will not survive another lengthy lockdown. Most dance schools were closed for six months prior to the re-opening, and have experienced dramatic drops in enrollment. Dance schools are large spaces, many upwards of 10,000 square feet, and have significant rent; into five figures monthly in these Regions. Already, we have seen multiple closures of businesses in our industry. More will follow.
Dance as an activity is second only to swimming in terms of participation in Canada for children, and it is overwhelmingly an activity practiced by young girls. We are going to need dance classes to be available when we emerge from this pandemic, for the physical, mental, social, and emotional health of these young girls and boys. But this will not happen if these dance schools do not survive.
We have submitted Guidelines for Dance Studios to the Province and to Health Units everywhere. We continue to update them, and work with schools to ensure they are being followed. We would have attached them again, as well as photos of what studios look like in practice, but were concerned that attachments may cause this email to not be received. We are more than happy to forward them upon request.
We are desperate and in need of your help. Children's Dance studios are not fitness gyms, and should be considered in the same category as schools and other children's activities. Please re-consider this decision, and direct public health units to allow this arts instruction to continue.