Toronto Dance Teacher Expo

Our amazing friends at Ballet Jorgen and Turn Out - CIUT 89.5 FM have amazing programming tomorrow!

AN OPEN LETTER TO PARENTS AND THE MEDIA NOW is the time to register for extracurricular activities. Not next year, not "wait and see," but NOW. And here is WHY ...it should be your number one priority right now. To start, I know this is a difficult time for parenting, it has not been easy for anybody, ALWAYS do what is best for you and your family. Always. There are just a lot of people sitting on the fence about what they will do in 2020 with respect to youth activities and this open letter is for them - to help them see some angles of the situation they may not have thought of yet. Never do anything you aren’t comfortable with, this is just a reminder to go check things out and see what’s new..... ask questions, review safety procedures, you might be pleasantly surprised to see how much business has adapted to create safe spaces! This letter is also a call to the media who has not done a sufficient job of properly showcasing the amazing work happening in the community to provide safe progressive programs for children. 1) Friendship circles and bubbles Who are your closest mates in high school? The guys on your soccer team, the girls on your cheerleading squad, the fellow swimmers in your club. People heavily involved in extracurricular activities spend hours together each week, these friendships are longstanding, and they already exist. They are often like extended families. These bonds are deeply rooted, these people are already together. Take a sampling of the Instagram feed of 100 children and you will clearly see that they are already with those that they do extracurricular activities with. Consequently, these bubbles and connections already exist and will continue to exist when school goes back into session. Children will not simply feel I am now in school with a bunch of people I don’t know, I no longer need to see my friends.......... that is not how this will play out. So, with these circles already existing - and high probability they will continue to exist - cancelling extracurricular activities for a lot of these people actually does not make logical sense. 2) Mental, social and physical health Children are resilient but there are psycho-social consequences of what we have forced them to undergo the last few months. Suddenly they were told that they cannot do what they love to do, they cannot play at the park, no fun, no friends. And when they finally get some normalcy we’re gunna give them everything back except their friends and the fun? Rough. A lockdown was needed to prepare us, but now that we are planning for an effective reopening it is the time to deeply consider what our priorities should be. Are math fractions really the most important thing right now? Many children have been sedentary for months, our physical health and the extracurricular sports that provide a platform for that are fundamental. If we prioritize long division but cancel art, creative ventures and extracurricular activities - what is the cost to their mental, social and physical development? Of course we all respond to stress, change, and the unknown differently. Maybe you have noticed your child seems to have lost their zest and fire for life? Maybe you even feel that in yourself because the children have lost their forward momentum and stagnation falls into pattern easily when we aren’t challenged with production. Often, people NEED productive challenges. Building, moving, playing, learning, creating, doing. School is a wonderful place to learn but extracurricular activities are what enrich lives with joy and passion and cause us to radiate from within, we begin to really know ourselves more deeply and it is a healthy outlet when life is difficult. However your child has responded to this pandemic is absolutely ok, I’m just encouraging you to review what their hobbies bring into their life and how it might help them move forward. Not registering for activities may be stripping what your child needs most right now, and, they may not fully understand this at the moment or even feel motivated currently. When we lose our forward momentum it takes time to get it back. Children need to be reconnected with their friends and reignited with their passion so that they regain their forward momentum after this loss of routine. 3) Logistics and safety keep your distance As an educator in the school district and in community programs I can tell you first-hand that specialized programs in the community are a totally different experience than those that exist in schools, they are taught by professionals who do that specific craft for their career. I want to express that I strongly believe that professional coaches will have excellent success at keeping space and maintaining safe distances in their youth programs. For starters, extracurricular activities have small class sizes so it will not be a problem to keep them a safe distance apart - the structure is tightly defined. A group of girls entering karate class are there for the respect for discipline. A group of boys entering ballet class are there for the structure, focus and tradition of that classical form. Some people think that extracurricular activities involve children running around freely with no supervision, structure or boundaries, but that is not how these programs run. These are highly refined classes and trainings with like-minded individuals dedicated to their craft. The structure and coordination of a like-minded team simply cannot be compared to the free structure of unsupervised play. In team activities, there is a higher level of focus, preparation, dedication and commitment, in that environment people will do what it takes to continue their passion in a safe socially distanced manner. 4) The economic consequences of closed youth activities Youth sport and activity is a multibillion-dollar industry that employs a vast spider-web like network of support systems. This network supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and businesses. When you close the soccer training academy, you not only fold the coaching jobs and the office workers that support those jobs but you also fold the businesses that support those businesses such as the equipment manufacturers and the apparel companies that print the jerseys for those clubs. Right now, the economy needs a boost not a second crushing after a major blow. Music schools, figure skating clubs, gymnastics centres, hockey training clubs, dance studios, yoga studios, climbing gyms, etc have been closed for months. These are independent businesses without (or with severely limited) government aid, they are hanging on and taking on debt trying to save their businesses from bankruptcy. Youth programs create hundreds of thousands of jobs and we have the opportunity here to keep those jobs. By prioritizing extracurricular programming and providing resources for safe delivery (the government can be doing more to help here) we save the economic destruction that will happen if we lose them because of unnecessary consumer fear. The loss of youth programs will have astronomical devastation on the economy across many platforms of business not just the clubs themselves. Developing research suggests that that economic devastation already existing will have more significant years of lost life than Covid itself, increased suicide rates, increased child abuse and sky rocketing depression and mental health concerns. 5) Children are resilient to Covid-19 The recent figures suggest that the serious illness death probability in the age group of 1-19 years is 0.000783251%, which means there is significantly less than a 1% chance of serious illness from Covid-19 in youth. Children are resilient. If there is worry about elderly or immunocompromised populations within your household of course be careful, also check out the additional precautions you can take to protect these individuals and resources available to help you do that. As always, stay home if you are not comfortable, never do anything you are not comfortable with, I’m just encouraging you to do your research into safe programming if the only thing holding you back is uncertainty about the programs. Change is hard, children thrive with routine. We shouldn’t underestimate the emotional journey these children are on and how their normal activities are a positive grounding force in their lives. Competitive athletes need to be with their extended families training again, and can do this physically distanced. Kids who explore recreational activities need to be making new friends who share the same interests as them, particularly right now with changes to school structure. There are safe ways to reintroduce art, music, and sports to our youth. Why is the media not discussing how organized clubs are to increase consumer confidence? Because fear-based media sells. We never hear about the good safe things to do, do we? No. So this wait and see approach does not work, if you wait and see, and do not return to your activities for September enrollment - the programs will not exist next year, clubs cannot survive a year and a half without your support. They will not exist when you want to return. If you are worried about health and safety, absolutely do your research before enrolling. Go to your club and see what protocols they have in place. You will probably be surprised with how organized and efficient they have made it. Why? Because they have had months to prepare for this. They have been planning procedures, updating sanitation protocols and creating physically distanced facilities for you this entire time, they are ready to welcome you. Register your children where you feel comfortable, ask questions until you find what is right for you but please do not wait and see, you might be too late to save youth activity. Youth activities are already starting to close, and business needs your support, your tuition helps pay facility rentals that have continued to exist even during forced closure. Despite the current struggle small business in the youth sector keeps hundreds of thousands of workers employed, we cannot afford to lose these local jobs! Now is the time to think about this from the big picture perspective. These programs can exist safely. Take your life back, wash your hands frequently and get back out into the community doing the things that invigorate your soul. Revitalize your children, prioritize their physical, mental and social health and in the process - save small business and jobs in your community. Take a look and see what you are comfortable with, you will likely find activities in your area offering high quality youth programs with safety as their number one priority. They are ready for you. Thank you Sarah Reis, MEd

One of our absolute favourite people is offering an incredible program that you need to check out! Lauren Ritchie https://withlauren.ca/teacher-training

Our friends at Youth Protection Advocates In Dance - YPAD have created an incredible seminar for our industry! Please join! YPAD invites all parents, studio owners, teachers, dancers, industry professionals, competition and convention leaders and those that support the industry and care about the global dance community to join us for an educational webinar that prioritizes accountability and understanding of sex-abuse in dance. YPAD professionals will host a 2.5 hour educati...onal webinar highlighting prevention, intervention, reporting, and resources for healing. Please Pre-Register Here: https://bit.ly/YPADAbuseinDance YPAD's panel will cover: - What is trauma-informed care and how is it relevant to sex-abuse? - What is sex-abuse? How and why does it happen? - What is grooming and how does it occur? - How can I help? - The proper steps to reporting sex-abuse. - What trauma recovery and resources are available? - The connection between sexualization and objectification to sex-abuse. After the YPAD panel presents, we will have additional shares from survivors in the community. We will then host a Q&A with our panel. You are invited to submit questions and have the option of remaining anonymous if you so desire. Please submit questions to [email protected]. You can submit questions during the presentation in the closed Q & A box that will be moderated by The YPAD Team. **YPAD is dedicated to maintaining a safe and trauma-informed space for all participants and survivors. All comments that covertly or overtly shame and demean survivors or any members of our panel will be deleted and blocked from participating in this training.** See more

Dear Toronto Dance Teacher Expo Supporters, Thank you for your resilience and strength during these challenging times in our industry. At the outset of the pandemic, we were busy trying to revamp a model for our Expo to continue to service the industry and help our friends and supporters move forward.... We realized the best option we could do would be to transform our Facebook Page into an online resource and tool for Dance Teachers, Industry Suppliers & perhaps Parents to see how our entire industry would move forward. As we entered Phase 1 of the Provincial Governments Three Phase plan we intended to create an online resource. Our first incredible guest was a lawyer, a performer & a current studio program director. We had literally hundreds of positive messages about the invaluable information we provided. We had scheduled more free webinars from experts who understand our industry and their unique perspectives. - An Infectious Disease Expert who also knows the dance studio environment - An Enforcement Officer who’s children are dancers - A Member of Parliament who is connected to dance studios and more. It came to our attention that because we kept OUR Facebook Page open to ALL guests, a teacher decided to post a negative comment about our presentation in another Facebook Group. This led to a series of comments by other teachers (none of whom have actually attended our Expo). In these heated times, where dance studios, competitions and parents are struggling to communicate; our effort was to become a tool to help navigate that for everyone. We were providing this service for Free and with continued goodwill to the wonderful community that supported us. We are now taking a step back and will focus on offering expanded services for our 2021 Toronto Dance Teacher Expo. We wish all of our supporters & delegates the best during these times. We will all get through this together. Sincerely, Kent McCord & Jay T Schramek