In person classes resume May 26 and there are a lot of changes we’ve put in place to maximize safety. The leadership team has spent the last 6 weeks deciding the changes we’re going to make to our program, hopefully temporarily, to make resuming as safe as possible. The first is changing class size and studio use in anticipation of the max of 10 per room at any given time. This means that Aerial Studios will only have ONE class going at any given time where previously we used to have two classes in an hour per studio. We also will not be having students share aerial equipment at this time. No shared hoops or silks. There will be 6 or 7 students and 1 instructor in each class, all on her own apparatus. This also means that fatigue will be real so class curriculum is being adapted to take into account this new class layout.
In the first two weeks resuming in person we will only be offering Beginner Level Aerial classes. Most of our students don’t have aerial equipment at home so need to start again slowly with building back stabilization muscles and desensitizing. Though we know for many this will come back very quickly and they could go into Intermediate Hoop after one class back, I feel it is my job as studio owner to keep our women from harming themselves with their excitement by how I schedule. So for the first period of resuming we are only going to offer Beginner level Hoop, Hammock & Silks. Don’t forget that you also have your own apparatus the whole class so you actually will have a LOT more time on the apparatus each time you attend. Our students will hopefully take this opportunity to improve their form, stamina and technique!
In phase one, the first step to resuming, we will be offering one fabric class per day (silks or hammock) so that the fabric has time to be sprayed multiple times before being switched out or used again. The CDC announced yesterday that surface areas are less of a concern for transmission (this is GREAT news!!!), so hopefully this schedule modification will be able to be shifted quickly. But right now, for the first two weeks of resuming in person, regardless of lessening restrictions around us, we are going to keep with our plan. Then modify going forward. I figure slower is better for resuming safely. Can a facility ever be too clean or too careful? I think not.
We also recognize that some students may not want to or feel able to resume in person classes. Therefore, we are modifying our program to continue to have an online component. The long term goal is to have classes that are being taught at the studio also be streamed online for students to attend virtually and interact with fellow classmates and the instructor. Our PSM software is eventually going to be where students log-in to do this, but with all the other changes taking place in phase one, we’ve decided to keep using Zoom until June 14 so it is one less thing for students to change in the initial resume.
Figuring out how many classes to offer both online and in person when we resume is a new challenge….that frankly is going to take a few weeks to figure out where the sweet spot is. What classes do students WANT to take at home still? What classes are best taught at the studio? What class days and times are going to be attended virtually versus online? It took us months every time we made schedule changes to figure out what our students want by monitoring their attendance and we expect this to be no different. So we’re watching and learning with every class you attend!
This is an exciting week. We’ve worked REALLY hard on creating a plan for resuming in the safest way possible. We can’t wait to see all our women again and put our plan into motion. Please remember the most important part of the plan is to respect our sisterhood and not attend:
- If you feel ill or are exhibiting any symptoms (coughing, sneezing, fever, etc.)
- If you have been in contact with anyone suspected of COVID-19 in the last 14 days
- If you have been traveling anywhere high risk in the last 14 days
and please remember to take your temperature BEFORE coming to the studio every time - If your temperature is over 100.4° do not come to the studio.
Together we will safely resume in person classes! We can’t wait to fly with all of you again!