One year later… random thoughts. Inspired by Globe sportswriter and Newton resident/occasional runner spotted on my route to the studio, Dan Shaugnessy, here are some random pandemic inspired thoughts one year later:
•Words we had never heard of, let alone used at All That Jazz, prior to March 12, 2020: In-Person (who knew there was a DASH between those 2 words?), PPE, Social-Distancing, Hybrid Model, and, of course, the ultimate… ZOOM!
•While our studio consumption of hand sanitizer has exponentially increased this year, our toilet paper consumption is way down! The big pack I brought in last February pre-lockdown has just run out.
•Who would have thought our dancers would actually enjoy the manual labor of cleaning off their spots at the end of every class? We sing the Cinderella song and off we go!
•Our waiting room and bathroom trash barrels are never full anymore.
•Most common email subject line I receive this year: “Is _ in-person or on Zoom this week?”
•Most commonly heard statement in our 6 and under classes: “When can I hug you again?”
•Thing we thought the younger dancers would miss the most, but apparently they haven’t even noticed- stamps at the end of class!
•An unexpected but very cool silver lining of our closed waiting room, the independence it has inspired in all of our children. So good for them!
•An unexpected but less cool and not-so silver lining of our closed waiting room, I miss chatting with all of you! Please feel free to reach out to me at any time.
One year ago today I was desperately and frantically searching the internet for information about Zoom and researching ways to keep our dance community “together” for what I thought would be a couple weeks, worse case scenario through April break. There was so much we didn’t know back then and, even once it became clear that we could safely open in September, I still had so many concerns… Would kids really keep on and dance with their masks? Can we really teach a dance class with half our students on the computer and half in the studio? Will we really be able to dance within 6 feet boxes?
The answers, of course, were and remain YES. I know I say it over and over, but that’s only because I really, really mean this- I am so grateful to our entire All That Jazz dance family. One year ago, things were feeling out of control and so scary. Today, there is hope and pride. One year from now, may this all be just a distant and bizarre memory!
