Ballroom Dance In 2022 --Private Lessons continue and: Drum Roll Please....Group Classes are RUNNING!

Happy 2022. May this year continue to keep us all safe, healthy, and dancing!!

I am happy to share that, along with my private lesson bookings, my group classes are running in 2022.

As of May 2021, I was able to resume teaching my Monday, 7-8pm group class at the Rochester OPC.

It has been fantastic to be back teaching group classes!

This is a drop-in class; no pre-registration is required. The cost is $10/student, payable at the door. Exact change is appreciated. The classes are progressive; each class/series will build on the one prior as we add onto the patterns covered.  No partner necessary. Ballroom shoes or dress shoes are recommended.  Be sure to avoid slip-on, backless, or tennis shoes. 

• Covid-19 precautions: students are asked to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.  

Also back in 2022, for my 15th year, I am thrilled to share that my 1-2pm Ballroom Dance Group Class at the Troy Community Class will also be resuming!

Please note the day of the week has changed! This class will be offered on Thursdays, starting March 3.

Also, the Troy Community Center is no longer allowing drop-in class formats. They require pre-registration for all classes. My Thursday 1-2pm Ballroom Classes will be run as 4-week sessions for $40/session. Registration for the session will close 1 week before the first class.

The classes are progressive; each class/series will build on the one prior as we add onto the patterns covered.  No partner necessary. Ballroom shoes or dress shoes are recommended.  Be sure to avoid slip-on, backless, or tennis shoes. 

• Covid-19 precautions: students are asked to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.  

Ongoing Covid-19 precautions:

• In light of the ongoing safety concerns, students and I keep our masks on, regardless of vaccination status.

As you may recall, in pre-Covid times, standard practice was that group classes involved switching partners so that every lead gets to dance with every follow and visa versa. This allows leads and follows with more/less experience to more quickly enhance their learning, and also, it promotes a deeper sense of class comradery. However, in order to promote best safety practices with respect to the pandemic:

• Couples/dance partners that do not wish to change partners are being accommodated.

• Therefore, any students who attend class, and do not have a set partner, can either dance with me (as a lead or follow), or pair up with a classmate who is also needing a partner for that class.

Please check out my Group Class tab for the details, dates, and dance styles from January - December 2022.

Thank you, welcome back, and I look forward to seeing more of you back on the dance floor this year!!

Namaste,

Amy

Ballroom Dance in 2021 --Private Lessons Only (My Group Classes will be on indefinite hold)

I hope this post finds everyone healthy and looking forward to 2021—2020 has certainly been a challenging year!

As many of you know, along with many other businesses, events, and classes, the Covid-19 pandemic shut down my Ballroom group classes, beginning on March 13, 2020 - and still to this day in December 2020.

It is now apparent that this shutdown of in-person Ballroom Group Classes will still be a fact for months yet to come in 2021—until such a time that enough vaccinations are distributed and Covid-19 is more “under control.”

Usually, every December, I set my group class teaching itinerary for the following year regarding what styles I will be teaching for both my Troy Community Center and OPC group classes. I always look forward to thinking ahead about what styles my students would like to experience and/or deepen their study of, but this December, I see that my group classes in 2021 still need to be put on hold.

With all the uncertainty that this pandemic has caused, and the fact that my group lessons may not run for many months into 2021, and considering that they occur during prime timeslots on Monday afternoons and evenings where I can teach my private lessons in—for 2021, I have had to make a tough choice.

I am not sure when vaccines will be widely distributed (projections seem to point towards the summer of 2021), how many people may feel comfortable taking them, or how the pandemic will affect people's overall comfort with partner dance in general and group classes in specific--all that "unknown" necessitates hard choices.

Given all the facts and COVID-19 considerations regarding groups of people, and my commitment to ensure the safety of all of my students and their families, I have decided to put my group classes on hold for 2021.

My two Monday Group Ballroom Classes are classified as seniors’ classes, which as we know, is considered a high-risk group for Covid 19. Therefore, with a sense of loss and a nod to the wonderful Ballroom programs we have had over the last 14 years at the Troy Community Center and the last 3 years at OPC, I have decided that the best choice for everyone is to not offer my Monday Drop-in Ballroom group classes for 2021.

While I am able to safely teach my private lessons (1-2 students and myself with our masks on and hands sanitized, in a large, open ballroom), group classes present a larger exposure risk to students and myself as these classes include people of different households, traditionally necessitate changing partners, and require students to be in dance hold (close proximity).

Even if class sizes were capped to match a safer percentage of room capacity/air flow, social distance protocols were strictly adhered to, and people of different households did not change partners, we have learned how contagious this pandemic is, and we must face the facts that a group Ballroom class would still present exposure risks, especially for indoor classes.

In addition, students who do not live with a dance partner would be forced to dance without a partner in such a group class—which defeats the inclusive purpose of a group ballroom class. I do not want to hold group classes that would limit or prohibit every student from having a chance to dance with a partner(s).

• Therefore, I am postponing my Monday 1-2pm Troy Community Center classes for all of 2021 because most of my students do not live in the same household for this class.

• I do hope that I may be able to safely conduct my Monday 7-8pm OPC Drop-in Ballroom Dance class, perhaps beginning the in the Fall of 2021, as many of my students at this venue do live in the same household; however, a start date is yet to be determined by Covid-19 considerations, vaccine efficacy, and safety considerations.

I want to thank all my students for the many years of comradery, learning, friendship, support, fun, dancing, and hard work! I have so enjoyed teaching my 14 years of teaching Ballroom Dance Classes at the Troy Community Center and my past 3 years teaching at OPC, and I will truly miss these classes (as I have for the past 10 months!).

I have been blessed to be able to resume safely teaching my private lessons in 2020, and that’s been a real joy in this year of multiple adjustments, and I look forward to continuing to teach my private lessons in 2021.

As we come to the end of 2020, let us go forth into 2021 with a renewed commitment to our health and well-being, and let’s envision a time where we can all meet back on the dance floor for our group classes.

I wish you and your families all the best for the Holidays and the New Year; please take care of yourselves and stay healthy.

Thank you again for all the memories, dancing, and kindness over the years.

Namaste,

Amy

Ballroom Dance and Yoga in the time of COVID-19 and beyond

Hello dancers and yogis,

I hope that you are staying healthy and remaining hopeful that we will soon regain a sense of normalcy as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.  We can all agree that it has been a trying few months. 

Like you, I am thankful for the essential workers who have been providing care and services during this unprecedented time.  They have been dealing with life and death struggles and have shown selfless bravery to come to the aide of our community—thank you!

I’m very thankful for my health, and that of my family members, friends, and students. I want to say thank you to those students who have reached out to touch base over the last 8 weeks to see how my family and I are doing. I’m glad to hear that you and yours are staying healthy. For those students whom I have not connected to, over these past 8 weeks, please know that I have been thinking of each of you and wishing for your continued health and well-being.

Despite the many challenges, adjustments, and sacrifices that COVID-19 has asked of each of us—and there have been many—we have learned/re-established the importance of our health. COVID-19 has reminded us to be even more mindful as we move forward.

Looking ahead to June 12, and beyond, I’m sure that we all hope that the end of the Stay at Home order is nearing—and that a “COVID-19 all clear” will be sounded in the coming days.

With this future in mind, I wanted to acknowledge that many of us may not feel 100% safe or normal when we return to our workplaces and extracurricular activities. This is understandable and expected.

We will likely be asked to continue to wear masks in enclosed public spaces, some of us may elect to wear gloves in public, there may be some continuation of social distancing, and some of us may not wish to or feel ready to immediately return to group gatherings when the Stay at Home order is lifted.

We will each have to make the call as to when we feel safe to resume our activities, and we all need to do so in ways that promote our health and the health of those we come into contact with. Looking ahead to when I am able to return to in-person teaching, I want to assure you that I take your health and mine seriously. I also want to assure you that there are safe ways for us to resume group classes and private lessons.

When my group and private lessons start back up, there are a few guidelines and mindful changes that we can employ to keep us safe:

1. Students may wish (or may have to) wear a mask to class. We will follow the CDC and governor’s guidelines.

2. Since Ballroom dance requires individuals to be in hold (in each other’s arms), some students might wish to wear gloves. This body-contact does not apply between yoga students.

3. All students should carry hand-sanitizer of a strong enough percentage to kill COVID-19.

4. Should any student prefer, we can hold Ballroom group classes or private lessons 6 feet apart (not in frame). Leads and follows would work individually, but in tandem (working on the same patterns at the same time, spaced 6 feet apart, without being in frame).

   Many of you have been in classes with me where I have had students explore dancing in this way—it teaches us better balance, connection, concentration, and execution. Much can be gained from employing this method.

5. I will continue to demonstrate Ballroom patterns and yoga asanas, continue to give detailed verbal instruction, and should any student prefer, I can refrain from making hands-on adjustments (light touches to adjust a student in a yoga asana or contact to the body to adjust posture or frame in Ballroom dance).

6. We will refrain from changing partners in our Ballroom Dance group classes until COVID-19 is no longer an issue.

7. For those individuals who live in the same home, and therefore have been quarantined together during this shutdown, you may dance together in hold in private lessons and group classes, or practice yoga together in private lessons.

8. For those students who come to class solo (whether in group classes or private lessons), we can continue to work together—you and me—via verbal instruction and demonstration—and, should you feel comfortable, via hands-on hold or adjustments.

9. Each person, myself included, should commit to being transparent and conservative about his/her health. If you are feeling unwell—you will not come to class. If I am feeling unwell—I will not hold class.

10. I will abide by the CDC and governor’s guidelines, as they stand and if they shift.

11. My studio locations, Next Level Dance Center (private lessons), The Dance Studio (private lessons), Troy Community Center (group lessons), and the OPC (group lessons) will also abide by the CDC and governor’s guidelines.

12. If you are not comfortable resuming your group lessons or private lessons with me, until some time when COVID-19 is absolutely eradicated, I understand.

    Please reach out to me to let me know. I can either hold onto your lesson credit (for private lessons), and you can resume your lessons when you feel safe to do so, or I can reimburse you for any unused portion of your private lesson package.

    If you are a current private student, I will be contacting you in the next week to inquire about your preferences.

In this manner, when our Ballroom Dance and Yoga lessons resume, we can each commit to being proactive, practical, and personally responsible for our health, the health of fellow students, and our passion for dance and yoga.

For those students who may wish for alternative Dance/Yoga lesson options, here are two additional possibilities:

1. I can teach private lessons or group classes over Zoom. 

   Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about my Zoom rates and/or to schedule a lesson.

2. Also, depending on my teaching schedule, the driving distance, and our continued health, for certain students who do not feel comfortable coming into the studio for their private lessons, or attending class at Troy Community Center or the OPC for group classes, I may be able to teach you in your home.  All in-home lessons would be billed as private lessons. 

   Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about my out-of-studio rates and/or to schedule a lesson.

When the Stay at Home order is lifted, I look forward to seeing each of your smiling faces in my studios and centers. Let us celebrate our resilience and perseverance together!

With love and continued wishes for our excellent health,

See you soon!

Amy

My Writer's Heart: Love, Transformation & Nonfiction

I chose to pursue an MFA in Creative Nonfiction because I wanted to explore and articulate the complexities of love and the textures of loss.  I am fascinated by true stories, the human connection, and the emotional and spiritual journeys that life demands.  My own experiences have shown me that somehow from the raw, unedited mess of it all, from chaos and pain, from loss and betrayal, we are often lifted to grace and wisdom.  

During my MFA work, I wrote Mosaic of a Man, a memoir which thematically centers on my father’s life and death, and explores his influence on me through the landscape of both internal and external journeys.  This work illustrates how his legacy has shaped me and those who loved him, and how as I traverse the globe, he is always with me, both metaphorically and literally. 

The book came to me in fragments, which I call memory tiles.  Writing it felt like building a mosaic.  I had to get the shape and color of each piece and then find where it went in the whole.  When connecting the images and pieces in my memoir...the cracks in a family picture, a severed wedding ring that was reforged, the stain in stained glass, a cancerous body burned to ashes, and a mended walking staff...I saw that I had two underlying themes: what is broken can be repaired — and — transformation has its own beauty. 

That is the true risk we take by loving. We are asked to become new, more expansive, and more fully alive, and that often comes with growing pains — but, the evolutionary journey is so worth it!

From one passionate traveler to another, let us celebrate this beautiful life with each breath we are given.

Namaste,

Amy