Being online has had great benefits but great challenges as well, but it has really helped the three organizations stay connected and reach out to wider audiences.
We shut our doors and took our classes online immediately. I already knew dance teachers who were doing that in rural areas. They are offering their classes on site and also protecting their classes through an online platform, especially for people who couldn't make the drive. It was already something that was being done in rural areas.
I jumped on that possibility right away. It was a learning curve - I had to figure out how to work Zoom and how to make it work for everyone. But we were blown away with how many people were into it.
The first few weeks, we had our best numbers. These people wanted to keep their dance practices going and they knew us. There are lots of online classes out there, but I think people still want the personal experience of the live class.
We kept a lot of our students. Some people who couldn't go to the Zoom classes bought class packs to support us financially and use for future classes.
We are still online and will soon have our first outdoor class. The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, the organization that owns and runs the Cotton Mill building, is allowing us to hold classes on the lawn there.
Taking our classes to public spaces in and around Brattleboro is tricky especially because you have to go through the Recreation and Parks Department, and if we do that, we can't technically charge money. So it's really great that BDCC is going to allow us to do this by giving us free rein of the lawn.
Our indoor space is small, so maintaining social distancing inside would just be too hard. I also don't feel safe having people wear their masks while they are exercising because they get less oxygen and it is harder to breathe.
I'm really excited about offering our first outdoor class. We're going to keep some online because some people still don't feel safe going out in the world, and some people have been able to join online who wouldn't be able to come to SoBo anyways.
There's a woman in Massachusetts who's participating via Zoom because it's not possible for her to make the drive to classes. So the online platform actually opened up a lot of opportunities that wouldn't otherwise be there for people.
I personally had that experience because I was able to take an online class through Earthdance, which is about an hour away in Massachusetts. They took all of their retreats online, and I was able to take a three-day workshop for two hours a day online. I would not have been able to do so in person because leaving my family for three days would be difficult. I feel very grateful I get to study with that teacher.
Of course, the online platform is so different. It is hard as an instructor to give people feedback and teach the way I really want to teach.
But it has helped people maintain their practice, give them the tools to practice smartly, and really tune in to what their bodies need - a different approach to teaching, but it still offers the personal touch and keeps people safe.
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The other organizations I've worked with have all taken things online. I've been impressed with how adaptable all the arts organizations have been.
Vermont Dance Alliance connects dancers statewide. They would normally be running a festival of outdoor dance all over Burlington once a year in June. The organization decided to take it online. We had an amazing response.
I'm on the board and helped organize the festival. I've never been able to go to this outdoor festival because June is so busy. But this year, I was able to participate.
Each artist had to learn the same choreography and then film it in our own location. A video editor put it all together. Each of us also choreographed our own individual dance in an outdoor space, and he put those together as well. It is almost like an advertisement for Vermont - it is so beautiful.
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So being online has had great benefits but great challenges as well.
I also work with the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification. We've been hosting two classes a week and people have been Zooming in from literally all over the world - from as far as Iran and Israel - and from all over this country. It has been amazing.
But we got Zoom bombed one day, and it was terrible. The people who invaded our online space were showing pornography and shouting racial slurs - it was really, really bad. It felt targeted and organized.
So there are some downsides to the online platform, but it has really helped us hang on as SoBo, as the Vermont Dance Alliance, and as the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification. It's helped us to stay connected and to stay and reach out to wider audiences.
Some people haven't been able to go online because of internet connectivity, so I'm really excited to reconnect with people who I haven't seen in three months and who are excited about coming to some outdoor classes.
Moving forward, we're going to have a mix of outdoor classes. I think it's going to be a while before we can be in the studio.
But who knows? We will see how things continue.