Steps Dance Centre
1163 Cedar Ave V1R4B8 Trail, BC, Canada

Mid November all studios across the lower mainland were ordered to close for two weeks and develop new safety plans in accordance with work bc and via sport. Th...ese governing boards scrambled to work with studios as the lockdown was news to them too. Eventually by the end of two weeks amazing plans were drawn up. Funny enough, the recommendations came back as what studios were already doing: masks, taped squares for distancing, Cleaning with disinfectant, limited numbers, train your staff. Given the green light they prepped to be reopened. A couple days later however a full provincial closure of all studios occurred, with no new information released. When I called worksafe bc to ask what to do they didn’t even know about the closure until hours after I had read the PHO to THEM. When I did get a call back they didn’t know anything beyond what the order detailed. In fact, their own officer had just paid his sons gym fees, outlining he had no heads up either. There was no communication to help streamline this process. The province then announced they would have new guidelines by November 30th. Yesterday, they said that is no longer the case because of the complexity required without saying who they are working with and what they are doing to streamline this process or to support studios. They said they now hope for end of next week for guidelines. They’ve had WEEKS (let alone since March) and yet studios are left without support and guidance and no information as to WHY. My question is WHY are we scrambling? Maybe there’s a reason, but it has not been explained if so. Further, the narrative that we don’t care about arts and small business in BC is furthered by CONTACT sports being allowed to operate still and no relief offered for studios during the closure. How is this possible? Personally, I’m exhausted. When events were no longer allowed our studio (along with everyone’s) took a huge financial hit. Recitals and shows are an enormous portion of our profit. Those profits don’t go to an already lined pocket. They go to my staff, back to the kids, scholarships, building the studio and my wageone that has always been modest but is now below poverty. I had to take out a relief loan just to hang on. I will emerge tens of thousands in debt from covid closures despite working my butt off. I’ve considered walking away many times over, but knowing I have 100 families that rely on me allows me to shoulder the financial and emotional burden of the closures. Now, with a transition to online and no relief we studio owners have to find the funds to hold both a physical location and an online location. This means during a closure we are on the hook for not only rent and utilities but also paying for a zoom account, google drive to hold and share virtual recordings, cost of upgrading equipment and cost of countless more hours of training staff, recording dances, emailing parents and setting up online systems. I’m asking you to sign the petition and let our government know In BC we care about arts and small business. And because we care we demand better guidance and support. We have to do better. This is NOT out of our control. We live in a Democratic country. The people have the power. Don’t believe me? Look at MADD Canada: an organization that estimates they have saved upwards of 45k lives by lobbying the government for harsher drinking and driving regulations. I’m betting it’s more. I fully support in protecting people against covid. This virus is brutal and we have no choice in how it interacts with an individual. We do however choose how we react and respond with protocols and legislation. I’m not against closures if they are needed and work. I am however against closures that leave people out to dry with no information and no relief. The BEST community is democracy. Its not enough to JUST shop local. We must take both an individual approach and a collective one. This is how we show we are truly all in this together. This is how we ensure our children have a future after this pandemic. Link in comments

New guidelines will be available by Nov. 30th! We will be back dancing in no time

We are committed to keeping your dancers healthy and active during these times! #wegotthis #dancerstrong #neverstopdancing

#begreat #firststep #youareamazing

Whatever you get up to today, we hope you stay safe, and of course, dance! We’d love to see all your awesome costumes - post your photos in the comments below!