School Safety Protocols

New Safety and Health Protocols Required to offer In-Person classes at Alma Dance School!

Before Leaving Home:

1. Dress for your dance lesson and do your hair at home, we need to minimize unnecessary use of the school’s restrooms.
2. Dancers, instructors and staff will be required to wear a mask at all times while in the building.
3. Please only bring the necessary items with you.
4. Please bring enough water for your classes. The school’s water fountain will not be available for use.
5. If your dancer is not feeling well or has a fever, please keep your dancer at home and report it to the school via email using the following email address reportabsence@almadanceschool.com. Please do not use the school’s general email to report an absence. We recommend that each parent save this email address in their contacts for easy access if needed.
6. Each dancer will need to bring and take home their exercise mat, rollers, ankle weights, thera-band and all other personal items after each day of class to proper sanitized them at home, before bringing them to the next class in the studio. Please note that dancers will not be allowed to share their personal exercise equipment with another student under ANY circumstances.

When you arrive to the studio:

1. Students should arrive 15 minutes before their first class and form a line outside the studio door, ensuring that a distance of 6ft is maintained between each dancer waiting to enter the studio. Wait until your instructor signals for you to enter the studio.
2. The lobby of the school will be closed, and we will only permit dancers and instructors to enter and exit the Alma premises. Parents and family member will not be allowed in the building at any time as a safety measure and to ensure our headcount remains within the CDC’s safety and health recommendations. Parents will need to pick up and drop off their students in front of the building. Additionally, the school’s front door will be locked during classes to prevent anyone from unnecessarily entering or exiting the building. We will email a weekly zoom link to parents of dancer’s ages 3-7, so that you can connect to the class online and watch your dancer while they are participating in their class.

Once inside the Building:

1. Upon arrival, each instructor, staff member and dancers will have their temperature taken daily to check for any signs of a fever.
2. NO shoes will be allowed inside the studio. EVERYONE will be required to leave their shoes in the entrance at ALL times. There will be a shoe rack in the entrance where dancers will be able to leave their shoes during class.
3. Dancers will be required by the instructor to use hand sanitizer prior entering the classroom. We have designated a wall mounted hand sanitizer in all of the dance studios. The studio floors will be taped to reflect a 6-ft distance between one dancer and another at the barre and center.
4. Once in the dance rooms, dancers will be assigned a spot in the room for the barre work and the center work.
5. Dancers must always stay within their marked space during the classes. All furniture in the lobby have been temporary removed so that we can assign a spot for each dancer to place their individual stuff on the days she/he is attending class at the studio.
6. Dancers will be instructed to wash their hands often. We will have a system in place to ensure this happens and that every dancer has sanitized hands before entering and exiting the studio. The use of hand sanitizer will also be applied in between hand washes.
7. Dancers and instructors must maintain a 6-ft distance/separation at all times. Physical contact of any kind, including greetings of hugs will not be allowed on Alma’s premises.
8. There will be no physical contact between students and instructors during classes. Instead, all corrections will be explained and demonstrated by the instructor without any physical contact.
9. Dancers MUST never share any personal items or food (including their phone, hairbrush, leotard, tights, belt, ballet shoes, and exercises equipment etc.)
10. The school’s floors, ballet barres, carpets, desks, doorknobs, light switches, handles, phone, toilets, faucets, sinks, CD player, computers screen, etc. will be sanitized several times throughout the day on a daily basis.

Leaving the studio:

1. It is crucial that parents are ON TIME to pick up their children after class, and we ask that you please respect this request. To avoid lots of dancers crowding in and out of the lobby at same time we will be releasing dancers one by one. All dancers will be watched by an instructor until they enter their car, so please ensure that you pick-up your student on time. We cannot have students waiting outside of the studio for a parent. Dancers 3-8 years old must be picked up by ONE parent. We will release the dancers one by one directly to the parent. All dancers must always be dropped off and picked up at Alma Dance School main entrance.

Please ensure you and the person dropping off and picking up your dancer is familiar with all of these safety and health protocols before bringing the dancer to class. If you or your child are not feeling well or have any symptoms, please do not bring your child to class for the wellbeing of your child, fellow students and their teachers. If you have tested positive for COVID-19 or have been in closed contact with someone who has, we ask that you please notify the school as soon as possible through email at reportabsence@almadanceschool.com and we ask that you do not come back to the studio until you have symptom free for two weeks and have tested negative.