The Academy At Terpsicorps Re-Opening Plan

Ballet instruction requires discipline, focus, and careful attention to the health and safety of students, even in the best of circumstances.  During the current COVID-19 pandemic, greater risks have been introduced into this equation.  We feel that our students and faculty are uniquely prepared to rise to the challenge of accepting specific protocols to mitigate the danger of infection.  They already come to the studio with a higher than average awareness of the need to adhere to discipline to keep themselves as safe as possible, and in our experience, dance students have been very self-motivated to follow the common sense and effective protocols necessary to keep in-person studio instruction possible.

The incoming Academy at Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance Owners/Directors have prepared these guidelines based on their own recent experience conducting in-person ballet classes since mid-June of 2020. Peter Merz, as Director of the Ballet West Academy, and Cynthia Ridler, as a member of the Principal Faculty, oversaw  over 300 students at the main Summer Intensive and the new Young Dancers’ Summer Intensive from across the country, enforcing strict social distancing, mask-wearing, and enhanced cleaning and sanitization.  Our studios have remained open throughout the fall, with close to 600 students participating in classes six days a week.  In all of that time, we have had no cases of intra-studio transmission.  And have been readily able to adhere to the CDC recommended guidelines.

Health and Safety Guidelines  

Entering the Academy

• Physical Distancing will be in effect and enforced.  All students, faculty, and staff are to remain 6’ apart at all times.
• Parents/Guardians are not permitted to wait in the lobby or studio space.  Students will be checked in at the door by a staff or faculty member
• Masks are mandatory for all students, staff and faculty members, at all times.
• Proper hand hygiene will be followed, including both hand-washing and the frequent use of sanitizer.
• Studio doors will remain open to minimize contact with surfaces and encourage air flow
• Staff and or faculty will conduct a symptom screening of each student at the entrance door.  We ask that the parent/guardian remain present for this check in.
• The Academy will keep a contact log of students in attendance
• The decision to allow a student to attend classes remains entirely with the directors of The Academy at Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance.
• All staff and faculty of the Academy will follow the same daily screening protocols and procedures.

People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

In the Studio

• Changing rooms will not be available.  
• Students are to arrive with dance clothes under their street clothes ready to take class.
• Students should arrive with a non-glass water bottle filled.  Drinking fountains will not be available.
• Students may bring their own personal disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer but hand sanitizer will be available in all common areas and studios.
• Students will sanitize their hands before entering the studio.
• Class start times and end times will be staggered to prevent crowding in the common areas and allow for better social distancing.
• Barres will be taped off at 6 feet and center studio floor spaces will be marked at 10-12 feet squares and students will remain inside the designated space.
• Students will sanitize their hands throughout the class times and between barre and center during ballet classes.
• Students may use the restroom only one dancer at a time and bathroom facilities will be assigned to specific studios.
• Signs will be posted in the common spaces, studios and restroom to remind about social distancing, proper hand hygiene and how to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
• Studio will be spot-cleaned between each class time, and deep cleaned before class times each day.

If a student, staff, or faculty member comes in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19:

• The CDC defines close contact as being within six feet of someone for a cumulative period of longer than 15 minutes within 24 hours, with or without a mask
• Anyone who has been in close contact with another person who tests positive will be required to quarantine for 14 days.  This quarantine can be shortened by receiving a negative COVID-19 test result after a MINIMUM of 7 days from the last exposure to the positive patient.
• All students, staff, and faculty who came into contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 while at the Academy studios will be informed of this exposure.  The identity of the person who tested positive will never be shared by Academy staff or faculty.
• Contact tracing will be used to determine whether contact with the COVID-19 positive patient meets the CDC guidelines for close contact.  If so, any person who was in close contact will be required to follow the quarantine guidelines.  If not, those persons will be required to conduct symptom self-checking at an increased rate.

If a student, staff, or faculty member tests positive for COVID-19:

• That student will be required to isolate for AT LEAST 10 days, be fever free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication, and all other symptoms must be improving.  Loss of taste and/or smell can linger long after a person is no longer infectious, and is not in itself a barrier to returning to the studio.
• It is highly recommended that a student, staff, or faculty member who has tested positive for COVID-19 be retested a minimum of 10 days after the first positive test.