Over 800 dance schools are in danger – however, they have so far hardly been considered in opening discussions. What dance schools hope from politics.
Photo: Katja Möhring
“Brothels are currently mentioned more often than dance schools,” says Katja Möhring, owner of “Tanz an!” in Schwebheim and the “ID Dance Studio” in Schweinfurt. But she doesn’t want to complain, because in her view the politicians have acted correctly. Nor does she want dance schools to be opened on bending and breaking. But she lacks the perspective, because there is no information from politics about how to proceed.
Möhring closed its dance studios on March 12th. “A lot of people think we’ve been lazy since then, but that’s not the case at all.” After just a few days, she streamed her courses live on Facebook and Instagram and purchased extra new technology. After four weeks, she switched to the “zoom” platform. This has the advantage that you can see the course participants there.
Virtual dance classes
Nevertheless, online teaching cannot be compared to normal operations, and she had to completely change her teaching concept. “You don’t have a direct partner, you can’t correct people properly and you talk about sign language,” says Möhring. “And we are all not professionals in front of the camera, but dance teachers,” she describes the unusual appearances in front of the camera.
The “Allgemeine Deutsche Tanzlehrerverband” (ADTV) admires that many dance schools have found creative solutions such as the online courses, explains press spokesman Heidi Schumacher on request. Attendance courses could not, however, be replaced. The concerns of many dance schools would increase, according to the ADTV, more than 3000 jobs and 800 companies are already in danger and existential existence.
Enormous cut for dance schools
The Hartung dance school in Würzburg has deliberately decided against online courses “This cannot be compared to the live dance lesson experience where people can be improved directly,” explains Horst Reinhardt, one of the partners of the Hartung dance school. He realizes that dance schools have been closed, after all, people inevitably get close to each other when dancing. He also understood that Bavaria is taking a more careful path. Other federal states, however, have shown the way and reopened dance schools in a restricted form. Reinhardt could imagine that couples who live together anyway can take part in partner dances again. The dance school also has large rooms so that spacious square meter distances could be ensured.
“For us this is a huge cut,” confirms Bettina Bäulke from the dance school of the same name in Würzburg. Like the Hartung dance school, it applied for state aid, but has so far not received any money. Bäulke can understand the closure. In no way does she want other people to be endangered. She has great respect for virologists and politicians. Nevertheless, she hopes that “she can start again in small portions from June”, even if the groups would then have to be reduced.
Cultural contribution to society
It is important for Bäulke to emphasize that dance schools make a cultural contribution to society. Three generations between the ages of 9 and 89 are currently dancing with her. She does not take online classes, her courses should be “as analogous as possible”. In their view, the dance school is “a meeting place, a place where friends meet”. When dancing together, the senses of the dancers are stimulated; online courses could not achieve this.
The worst thing for the industry right now is the uncertainty of how to proceed. At the beginning of May, the ADTV developed a hygiene concept and a step-by-step plan for the gradual reopening and sent it to the politicians. In the letter, Jürgen Ball, President of ADTV, emphasizes that dance schools are not just for pleasure. They have an educational mandate, assume cultural responsibility and serve to prevent health. For her branch, Möhring desperately wants her to be mentioned in the next concepts of the politicians, “so that dance schools have a bright spot again and it is signaled to them that they have not been forgotten”.
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