GREENFIELD — When Wilkerson Dance reopened this past week for fall classes, its staff of dance instructors rose to the challenge by prepping to modify regular in-person classes during a pandemic. Among other safety protocols, teachers have implemented a new drop-off/pick-up procedure to reduce the number of people in the lobby, learned how to properly sanitize the classrooms, put into practice new rules about handling props, how adjust choreography to social distance and teach students about the importance of wearing masks and social distancing while dancing.
Dance instructors are also offering an online option for those dance students who have chosen to stay at home by learning how to operate the Zoom video-conferencing app for online instruction.
This is not that same as teaching in person,” said Deb Wilkerson, owner of Wilkerson Dance. “Trying to keep children’s attention in-person and on a computer is no easy task.”
Wilkerson commends her students as well. Last spring, many continued dance instruction through online classes for 10 weeks while Wilkerson and her staff tried to figure out how to hold the annual spring showcase. The idea was to hold the showcase one class at a time at the Ricks Centre in June, a process that took four nights to schedule and safely show the skills of more 300 dance students.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Currently, students have returned to their classrooms, dancing in masks and observing social distancing guidelines.
“You don’t have to see their mouth smile to see the love of dance in their eyes,” Wilkerson said in a press release.
For more information about Wilkerson Dance, visit wilkersondance.com.
