A Glimpse of What COVID Has Done to Our Dance Industry
Raquel Valdés
Due to COVID-19 the dance industry has lost many dance academies , dancers , choreographers and more . After interviewing Ivan Freeman , director and studio owner of Freeman Dance Training ( FDT ) and Freeman Dance Training South District ( FDTSD ). I have realized the damage this pandemic has caused could potentially be irreversible . In Monterrey , Mexico , once the pandemic began in mid March 2020 , everything went online . Since dance is something one does because of their love and passion for it , that motivation was lost when dance studios went online causing many to quit which impacted both the studio and the students . Dance academy ' s have begun to lower the price of their classes , after understanding it ' s not the same experience , many do not have the space or equipment , which makes it even harder to continue their training through an online platform like ZOOM . Because of this , studios are losing money and every day fewer dancers are doing what they love . In FDT 80 % of the staff was fired due to the lack of money dancers were bringing in seeing that not there was no money to pay everyone . When the mexican government deems acceptable facilities are ordered to open or close depending on the amount of COVID-19 cases and if they do open they are only allowed up to a 30 % capacity of people . In the dance industry , this limits the amount of students that dance and the amount of money that each dance academy earns . Studios are many times at risk seeing that they never know if tomorrow they will be able to open their studios , causing the whole situation to be very unstable . The incomes and expenses stay the same so if the dance academy is not capable or does not have the money to pay expenses , the studio falls into great danger of closing . As of today , over 60 % of the dance academies in Monterrey , Mexico , have sadly closed due to the lack of funds . Although this pandemic has brought many negative impacts to the dance industry , it has also opened many doors for those who are not able to travel or pay dance classes , seeing that the costs are reduced and instead of traveling it ' s now online which creates opportunities for dancers with a low economic state . For example , The Dance Awards hosted yearly in Las Vegas and Orlando , where over 1,000 dancers gather and take dance classes for over a week : has now created an online version of the events with a lower price .. to sum up what was previously said , I can argue that this pandemic has brought both a positive and negative impact to the dance industry .
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