Well just when you think that everything is going on as normal, last week the Government announced changes to the way that gyms and more importantly for us, exercise classes can open. As you can imagine in the Mackrill household there was much excitement! Obviously this is an exciting development but all of our safety is paramount to me and I will not proceed if I have any concerns about this. As a community we have come to far during this pandemic that it would be silly, no irresponsible to ruin all of the hard work everyone has made.
So at the moment my idea is to start to reintroduce Pilates classes first. I know this will be a huge disappoint to those of you who attend Dancefit classes, as it is to me, however there are so many issues with dancing in a hall during Covid 19 that I really couldn’t put you and myself at risk. This is because the government have advised:
* not to restart any classes where shouting/singing is in involved – I’m not sure how I would instruct you guys without shouting directions! As for not singing? Argggh! So this would also mean that loud music couldn’t be played to reduce the risk of shouting….not sure quiet music would work?!
*at the moment I’m not sure how we would social distance in Dancefit what with all of the grapevines, general treading on toes and confusion with lefts and rights! And that is just me!
So that is not to say that Dancefit won’t be happening any time soon, I just need to look at the logistics of it more. It may be that we just run a slightly different class where we move about in the same spot more than moving about the hall so we an adhere to social distancing rules and we may have to run the classes just at Empingham Audit Hall as this is a much bigger hall than Ketton Congregational Hall. It may be a slightly different class to ensure that you guys can hear me without the loud music, now what that class could be, I’m not really quite sure but you can be assured that I have my thinking cap on. Could you put yours on too please and let me know if you have any ideas? I see this whole process as a staggered reintroduction – Pilates first and then closely followed by something like Dancefit, if that makes sense.
Due to the nature of Pilates this is a much easier class to put on to make sure that we are all socially distant away from each other. There would be a few changes, such as having to book onto a class rather than just turning up, reduced numbers in class to socially distance ourselves, more windows and doors open to improve ventilation, no equipment from me, not a bad thing!, and obviously lots of hand sanitiser available. As normal you would bring your own mat.
So at the moment this is what I think our Pilates timetable may look like:
Monday morning – now Tallington Village Hall isn’t opening until September so I am currently looking for another venue, my first port of call is Barnack Village Hall so I will let you know. We obviously need a hall that is large and close by to Tallington.
Monday evening – 615pm, woohoo Great Casterton Church Hall is reopening! A huge deep clean is happening as we speak so I am just waiting to hear when the hall can reopen. The hall is large, ventilation is good and it is a clean hall so that is fabulous news!
Wednesday – now for the time being, I’m not sure if the Congregational Hall will be large enough for us to socially distance ourselves to run a class there, I will just need to check. However we do have other options that I’ve been looking at. Harry and I love Hall Close in Ketton and I have applied to the Parish Council to run some Pilates classes there, how cool would that be! They would be outdoor classes so no facilities and would be weather dependant but we may be able to house more people in the class because we have more space. I am just waiting to hear from the Parish Council if this is ok. Another option would be to run our Wednesday morning sessions from Empingham Audit Hall, just another idea.
Friday morning – so if we can’t run a Dancefit class at Empingham at the moment, what can we do?! We could run a Pilates class there instead! Before lockdown I did talk about starting a new Pilates class at Empingham and I think this would be a perfect time to do so. This is by no means replacing our Dancefit class permanently, no sireeee but it may be a nice alternative for some of you whilst we wait to see how we can proceed with Dancefit.
So this is all I have at the moment and I would LOVE to hear from you – your thoughts on this, any worries you may have, any ideas for Dancefit. Just a yay or a nay would do! In fact these are your classes and I want them to suit you. When all details of classes have been finalised I will contact you with a risk assessment talking about ways that we can safely proceed with the classes.
Obviously not starting Dancefit straight away is a BIG disappointment but just for the moment lets think of something we can adapt to Covid 19 times and then when we can get back to normalish Dancefit will come back stronger and more fun than ever!
The Government is allowing our classes to restart on Monday 27th July so I am working really hard to be able to start on this date – however it is dependant on village halls opening by then and if I hear from people that we can restart, so please bear with me and I will let you know as soon as times, dates and venues are confirmed. You will be the first to know and I may just shout it from the rooftops as I cannot wait to get back to see you all!
I also want to clarify that my online Dancefit and Pilates classes will carry on as normal so if you don’t feel comfortable coming along to a physical class you always have new online classes each week – you can’t escape that easily!!! We also have had so many people join our online classes who live far far away and I want to keep you guys in the Stamford Pilates Community too!