Things may look and operate a little differently, but the feel of being in the studio is still exactly the same at Dance Images by BJ — exciting and welcoming.
Owner and director Barb Jackman and her staff welcomed dancers back into the studio for the first time in months on Sept. 11, with a number of protocols and requirements in place to keep things running safely for the new season.
“I’m really grateful that so many of our families and our community trust our protocols and are sending their children [to the studio this year],” said Jackman.
Dancers and their guardians have a few hoops to jump through upon arrival, including set drop-off times for classes, mandatory health and temperature checks at the door, and limited capacity in the studio’s waiting area.
The studio has dedicated entrance and exit doors, to keep traffic flowing with minimal contact, and dancers have assigned spots to wait until instructors lead them into their studio for class. Staff are cleaning the entire studio between each class, with a deeper clean at the end of the day.
“Everything we’re doing is a little bit more than it needed to be, but it’s important for families to feel confident and comfortable,” said Jackman. “The precautions that we’re taking are to ensure that everybody coming into the studio is in good health, and I don’t think you can do too much.”
On top of that, Jackman and her team have each of the three studio spaces in the building set up with more precautions — individual storage bins for each dancer’s personal items spaced out around the room, stickers marking standing spaces on the barre and seven-foot-square blocks taped out on the studio floor marking safe distance.
Instructors are also wearing plastic face shields and encouraging air high-fives. Masks aren’t mandatory but some dancers are wearing them as a personal choice, with instructors and assistants also donning a mask when dancers do.
It’s a lot of extra rules and routines for both staff and dancers, but Jackman is more than willing to put in the effort if it means being back in class with her students — especially as last year was Dance Image’s 30th season as a studio and was set to be a celebration before COVID-19 hit.
“We’re all very excited, because it’s been almost six months,” said Jackman. “The teachers have had to adapt their teaching plans [to avoid contact] but it’s fine.”
Areas like performances and choreography are still looking like question marks, admitted Jackman, but everyone at Dance Images has become very good at problem-solving lately.
“Last year, we were closed before we were able to showcase anything, so the plan is just to pick that up and use it but we’ll see,” said Jackman. “If we have to maintain our seven-foot distance, we’ll have to adapt and pivot again. Maybe our choreography will have matching masks to go with our costumes, we’ll have to see.”
Registration this year was done by appointment, to avoid crowds and show parents all the extra safety measures, and Jackman said all of the classes offered for the 30-plus-one season are filling up quickly.
This includes all the usual offerings, like tap, hip-hop, ballet, acro and more, as well as a few new classes like a parent and tot class, adult yoga and the studio’s newest program, Dancing Dreams, for children with special needs.
For more information on classes and how to get involved, visit the Dance Images website or contact the studio at 1 (360) 631-0584.
