Dance Brings Joy!
As I lay here, cuddling my 5 year old daughter, I am breathing in the joy that comes from watching your little one fall asleep. Gently tickling her back as she drifts off, with not a care in the world…. It led me to wondering ‘What world are we leaving the next generation?’ And that thought, sent shivers down my spine.
I look at my sleeping daughter, the most precious thing in my universe (Along with my son of course!), and I am petrified for her. Terrified of what she will face as an adult… and if not her then my Grandchildren… What is going on with our planet? The fires in Australia, the floods here and now a worldwide ‘plague’ in the form of Coronavirus. Perhaps the universe is trying to tell us something? Are we really too late to save our world?
I don’t know, but what I do know, is that our time on this earth is limited… especially in today’s world. Literally anything can happen and it has really changed my mind set.
Am I worried about the schools closing and therefore having to close the doors to Tappy Toes for a few weeks… or possibly months?? And my Dance and Drama School, Rise Studios. Potentially losing my entire income! Who knows how long this will go on for. The answer is yes! Of course I am. I’m scared that I won’t be able to pay my wonderful teachers, who put so much time and energy into delivering amazing classes and passing on their extensive knowledge of dance and drama to the next generation. Scared I won’t be able to pay my own bills if I have to close classes for several weeks. I’m scared for all the other self employed business owners who have worked tirelessly for years to build up their businesses that are now facing jeopardy…
What I do know is this… we can’t crumble, we can’t give up, we have to keep going, keep fighting, to make things better. This crisis will come to an end. I know it probably doesn’t feel like that to those who have lost loved ones to this awful virus, but the situation will improve and we just have to keep going until that day arrives.
Why Dance?
Absolute pure joy. When the music plays and you lose yourself in movement, it can be complete bliss. I know that as dance educators we are not brain surgeons, but in some cases we ARE saving lives. The teenager who hates school, is being bullied and has no friends- she comes to dance to be free. To let herself go. To forget about the hate and unkindness of those bullies and enjoy herself for that one hour. If dance studios can't run their classes what then? Will she sit and cry in her room with no outlet from the depression and anxiety she is feeling? I can’t bear that thought. I want to make sure that if we do have to close for two weeks, three, a month, more than that, we can still reach that girl.
What about the adult who built up the courage to come along to one of our classes… despite feeling too old, too fat, not good enough, too shy… having wanted to learn to dance for years, but never having the confidence to give it a go…
Or the little one who cried at their first class because they were too shy or nervous to go in, who’s now the first one running up to the teacher each week?
DANCE makes a difference.
It really does. To so many people, young and old. So I'm not ready to just close the doors on all my amazing dance families!!
At Rise Studios and Tappy Toes we will be offering online dance classes during this period, so those who want to carry on dancing will be able to! If we can bring just a tiny bit of light to even just one person in these dark times, we will be happy.
Perhaps we can entertain your children for a little while if they are stuck at home and you need to get some work done?
Or maybe you’ve been attending our adult classes and felt your fitness improving and don’t want to lose that! We’ll have a class for you to, so don’t worry.
Timetable
We will be running a special timetable for these classes, and you will receive an email with full details and a link allowing you to log in and join the class. We will give you full instructions on how to log in, as soon as we have confirmed which platform we will be using to deliver these sessions. It will be a mixture of video links, and online live streaming.
So keep an eye on your emails, and our Facebook page for details. If/when the schools close, we will still be very much open for business… just in a slightly different way. We hope you will continue supporting Tappy Toes (and Rise Studios) through these turbulent times. We Thank-you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us this far.
Claire Munday
Founder of Tappy Toes and Principal of Rise Studios
See Rickmansworth and Epping classes here. If you are interested in spreading some Tappy Toes joy with your own business, you can find out more about our franchise opportunities here
