Dance studios call for easing of COVID-19 restrictions in line with most sports
Dance studio operators angered by ongoing COVID-19 restrictions are calling for a 10-person limit on classes to be lifted. They argue they are just as safe as other sports, which had their restrictions lifted weeks ago.
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Thousands of angry dancers and dance studio operators have signed petitions urging the State Government to ease restrictions on class numbers.
Their calls follow Friday’s announcementthat dance and exercise classes would continue to be restricted to 10 participants due to the high risk posed by their high-energy setting.
More than 29,000 people have signed one petition, calling for class sizes to be lifted to 20 dancers, while another petition launched in response to Friday’s announcement has already secured more than 4500 signatories.
TK Studios Hope Valley owner-operator Tara Adamson, who has signed the petition, argues dance, yoga, pilates, calisthenics and gym classes should be treated the same way as other sports which had restrictions lifted weeks ago.
“We’re frustrated because my daughter dances at school and there’s no social distancing, and most private studios are bigger than school studios,” she said.
“We’re not using any props, we’ve put away the ballet bars - it’s not like other sports where you’re passing balls to each other.
“The essence of dance is not to touch each other - you need room to twist and turn so everything’s set up to for social distancing. The fact we’re the last industry coming back is really frustrating.”
TK Studios runs classes for around 450 dance students, mostly children, across its two studios at Hope Valley and West Beach.
The business has had to slash fees by 30 per cent after being forced to host its classes on Zoom for the past 10 weeks.
While classes will return to the physical studios this week, the group limit means Zoom sessions will still be needed to accommodate all enrolments.
“Obviously we’ve had those financial losses but we’re still paying wages, we’re still paying rent - it’s been too long,” Ms Adamson said.
“The ideal outcome is there’s no cap on it - make it all about the 4sq m rule, which we can all do. Otherwise, I would say most of the industry would be happy to see 20 up and running - that would get more kids out of the lounge room. We thought that would happen when gyms went back.”
On Friday, chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said the State Government was considering the option of allowing larger dance and exercise classes to resume with a distancing rule of one person per 7sq m, based on recommendations from Fitness Australia.
But Ms Adamson said that would create even tighter restrictions at her studio.
The 20-person limit at gyms will be lifted to 75 on Friday.
A State Government spokesperson said the decision to limit dance and exercise classes was based on expert health advice.
“The Transition Committee is having ongoing discussions about the further easing of restrictions,” the spokesperson said.