club reports 2020
September
We have been unable to dance socially, like many others, since the start of the lock-down in March. At one point we began to wonder if we would ever get back to dancing and of course at the height of the pandemic there were more important concerns.
We dance in a community hall and when in late July the restrictions were lifted and they were allowed to re-open, provided they followed the Governments COVID-19: Guidance for the safe use of multi-purpose community facilities. We began to plan to start up again but decided to wait until September to give us time to do our own risk assessment and put a plan together to dance keeping everyone safe. So six months after our last dance armed with our risk assessment, medical / track and trace forms, hand sanitiser, disinfectant sprays etc. and with very limited numbers, we held our monthly dance on September 11th. It was not easy getting to this stage, it involved a lot of preparation and we have become avid readers of the relevant government guidance papers, experts at completing ventilation calculations to work out the number of dancers in a space and we had to ignore a lot of false, negative and inaccurate advice and information. However, we are fortunate that the trustees of the hall have undertaken a huge amount of work to make the hall COVID secure and we are grateful to them for all their hard work and keeping us informed of the arrangements. We are also blessed with a group of dancers who have understood the restrictions we have had to apply.
We had some concerns that the evening dance would not be the same, with all the cleaning and sanitising giving the room a slightly clinical feel, dancers sitting 2 meters apart, no socialising or singing, but when we opened the doors everyone met us with huge smiles and soon the dance was underway.
There was a great atmosphere and it was good to feel normal again and enjoying dancing with our friends albeit socially distant. No set dances, no progressive dances and all the dancers showed much discipline at keeping the regulation 2 meters apart as they danced around the room. As we have said before this was not Old Time Dancing as we know it or would like it to be but it was safe, controlled small steps back to dancing.
The only worry we had on the night was that the Rule of 6 that takes affect from Monday 14th September would stop us after one dance, although we were sure we had read and understood that we were OK to continue. It was reassuring to receive written confirmation this morning (Saturday 12th Sept), from the Trustees of the hall, that they had received guidance from the Government specific to community centers/village halls. The guidance states that activities involving more than 6 within a COVID secure building are allowed. This is of course provided we continue to keep groups of dancers in groups of 6 or less, 2 meters apart and continue to follow all the protocols we have already put in place.
We have been unable to dance socially, like many others, since the start of the lock-down in March. At one point we began to wonder if we would ever get back to dancing and of course at the height of the pandemic there were more important concerns.
We dance in a community hall and when in late July the restrictions were lifted and they were allowed to re-open, provided they followed the Governments COVID-19: Guidance for the safe use of multi-purpose community facilities. We began to plan to start up again but decided to wait until September to give us time to do our own risk assessment and put a plan together to dance keeping everyone safe. So six months after our last dance armed with our risk assessment, medical / track and trace forms, hand sanitiser, disinfectant sprays etc. and with very limited numbers, we held our monthly dance on September 11th. It was not easy getting to this stage, it involved a lot of preparation and we have become avid readers of the relevant government guidance papers, experts at completing ventilation calculations to work out the number of dancers in a space and we had to ignore a lot of false, negative and inaccurate advice and information. However, we are fortunate that the trustees of the hall have undertaken a huge amount of work to make the hall COVID secure and we are grateful to them for all their hard work and keeping us informed of the arrangements. We are also blessed with a group of dancers who have understood the restrictions we have had to apply.
We had some concerns that the evening dance would not be the same, with all the cleaning and sanitising giving the room a slightly clinical feel, dancers sitting 2 meters apart, no socialising or singing, but when we opened the doors everyone met us with huge smiles and soon the dance was underway.
There was a great atmosphere and it was good to feel normal again and enjoying dancing with our friends albeit socially distant. No set dances, no progressive dances and all the dancers showed much discipline at keeping the regulation 2 meters apart as they danced around the room. As we have said before this was not Old Time Dancing as we know it or would like it to be but it was safe, controlled small steps back to dancing.
The only worry we had on the night was that the Rule of 6 that takes affect from Monday 14th September would stop us after one dance, although we were sure we had read and understood that we were OK to continue. It was reassuring to receive written confirmation this morning (Saturday 12th Sept), from the Trustees of the hall, that they had received guidance from the Government specific to community centers/village halls. The guidance states that activities involving more than 6 within a COVID secure building are allowed. This is of course provided we continue to keep groups of dancers in groups of 6 or less, 2 meters apart and continue to follow all the protocols we have already put in place.
Click picture to enlarge
August
Our monthly dance dates have been passing by as the months went on with no dancing but with a lot of research, planning and preparation we are holding our first dance in September. We have read and re read the regulations taken lots of advice and ignored some misleading information. It will not be social dancing as we know it but by restricting the numbers and adhering to the guidelines it is a controlled way back to dancing. Bath Old Time dancers only run social dances (no teaching) and as Old Time sequence dancers we are lucky that our style of dancing is controlled and we can keep socially distant. We have limited the dancers in line with the ventilation calculation and having a large room we are easily able to keep the seating and dancers within the guidelines, it has not been easy and we have had to make some difficult decisions like only allowing couples to dance form the same household or support bubble and having advance bookings only. We sent letters to our dancing group giving them our risk assessment and a list of requirements to comply with the regulations and our public liability insurance. We have put the programme on our web page stocked up on hand sanitiser, disinfectant sprays, antibacterial wipes etc. and keeping our fingers crossed that the dance can go ahead as planned.
Our monthly dance dates have been passing by as the months went on with no dancing but with a lot of research, planning and preparation we are holding our first dance in September. We have read and re read the regulations taken lots of advice and ignored some misleading information. It will not be social dancing as we know it but by restricting the numbers and adhering to the guidelines it is a controlled way back to dancing. Bath Old Time dancers only run social dances (no teaching) and as Old Time sequence dancers we are lucky that our style of dancing is controlled and we can keep socially distant. We have limited the dancers in line with the ventilation calculation and having a large room we are easily able to keep the seating and dancers within the guidelines, it has not been easy and we have had to make some difficult decisions like only allowing couples to dance form the same household or support bubble and having advance bookings only. We sent letters to our dancing group giving them our risk assessment and a list of requirements to comply with the regulations and our public liability insurance. We have put the programme on our web page stocked up on hand sanitiser, disinfectant sprays, antibacterial wipes etc. and keeping our fingers crossed that the dance can go ahead as planned.