The Dance Recital

[Ting Tang]

My daughter is 7, and she took one dance class this year.  I'm regretting choosing the option for her to do the recital.  It is going to be three days of craziness all for one dance, and the logistics do not seem Covid-safe at all.  There is a rehearsal and two separate recitals, and she has to stay in a room the whole time she's not on stage since they take a final bow.  There are also makeup requirements such as mascara and red lipstick to define facial features, but she has been one of the few wearing a mask since the mandate was dropped.  

I get to watch her perform for her other sport, and I truly enjoy it. Just not looking forward to how hard this seems!  

 

 

 

[mommyoffive]

Sending some hugs.  I hate how Covid makes everything more complicated.  

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Covid + performance is very tricky.

My dancer gets so much out of her classes and performances that we've worked out ways to manage the Covid risks. It's not perfect, but we've found our comfortable-ish middle ground.

We are ultra ultra ultra Covid cautious, so it makes me pretty twitchy. But my performer needs to perform.

I hope you find some strategies that work for your situation.

[mommyoffive]

50 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

Covid + performance is very tricky.

My dancer gets so much out of her classes and performances that we've worked out ways to manage the Covid risks. It's not perfect, but we've found our comfortable-ish middle ground.

We are ultra ultra ultra Covid cautious, so it makes me pretty twitchy. But my performer needs to perform.

I hope you find some strategies that work for your situation.

Just curious what you do to manage risks?  I have 5 dancers with a show coming up.  The last show didn't go well in December with a covid outbreak shutting down the show.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

Just curious what you do to manage risks?  I have 5 dancers with a show coming up.  The last show didn't go well in December with a covid outbreak shutting down the show.

The main things we do:

- my daughter is double-masked for all classes and rehearsals, including dress rehearsals

- she stays masked at all off-stage times during performances and filmings

- so, she's only unmasked when she's actually on stage, or has a camera in her face

- she's perfected how to drink from a water bottle while wearing a mask

- both my daughter and myself mask at home and in the car, because we know that she's being exposed when she's unmasked, and we have a vulnerable family member

- my daughter double-masks at home when she's with her sister (the vulnerable family member)

- the family all eats in separate places, so that we're never unmasked around each other

- if a performance is indoors or has a large cheering audience, then my daughter completely isolates from her sister for 2 weeks (this has only happened once so far)

 

Basically, we minimise the chance that our dancer will catch Covid (so far, so good 🤞), but we always assume that she could have caught it, so we're ultra careful in the car and at home.

These two daughters are best friends, so it's not good for either of them to keep them separated. We're all completely used to wearing masks all the time now, so it's become no big deal for us at all. 

Masks aren't mandated here any more (except for certain locations like hospitals, airports, public transport, aged care etc), but a high portion of my dancer's colleagues mask anyway. We're very lucky with her dance demographic. 

 

[mommyoffive]

10 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

The main things we do:

- my daughter is double-masked for all classes and rehearsals, including dress rehearsals

- she stays masked at all off-stage times during performances and filmings

- so, she's only unmasked when she's actually on stage, or has a camera in her face

- she's perfected how to drink from a water bottle while wearing a mask

- both my daughter and myself mask at home and in the car, because we know that she's being exposed when she's unmasked, and we have a vulnerable family member

- my daughter double-masks at home when she's with her sister (the vulnerable family member)

- the family all eats in separate places, so that we're never unmasked around each other

- if a performance is indoors or has a large cheering audience, then my daughter completely isolates from her sister for 2 weeks (this has only happened once so far)

 

Basically, we minimise the chance that our dancer will catch Covid (so far, so good 🤞), but we always assume that she could have caught it, so we're ultra careful in the car and at home.

These two daughters are best friends, so it's not good for either of them to keep them separated. We're all completely used to wearing masks all the time now, so it's become no big deal for us at all. 

Masks aren't mandated here any more (except for certain locations like hospitals, airports, public transport, aged care etc), but a high portion of my dancer's colleagues mask anyway. We're very lucky with her dance demographic. 

 

I am glad your dd is still able to dance and your other dd is being kept safe.  It amazes me that they kids can dance with masks on.  My kids have always worn KN95s to dance in.  Surgical would be so much easier to breath in a think.  

[Ting Tang]

Thank you all for your support.  We're going to contests for her other activity, and it's so much easier for us to have more control over the situation.  She goes to her class wearing a KF94 mask, but it seems everyone else thinks this is all over.  My husband, who has been more skeptical over the severity of Covid did speak with someone the other day who I think actually caused my husband to pause a bit: his college-aged child, an athlete, nearly died from Covid.  I wish they would take some precautions. Cases are definitely rising here.  The recital is in a few weeks--I just got all the details yesterday, so I am going to be watching what happens with our numbers very closely.  Since my daughter is only 7, she is definitely feeling self-conscious about being the only dancer who masks in her class. She tells me she wants people to see her smile.  I wish this wasn't a worry.  This studio was by far the most strict with Covid precautions, and they went from having them all to having none...just in time for recital.  😞  

[chocolate-chip chooky]

9 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I am glad your dd is still able to dance and your other dd is being kept safe.  It amazes me that they kids can dance with masks on.  My kids have always worn KN95s to dance in.  Surgical would be so much easier to breath in a think.  

My daughter wears a level 3 surgical against her face, and then a snug 3-layer cotton mask over the top, with a filter in it. 

It's incredible how she manages. Her main dance styles are hip-hop and breakdancing. Very high energy!

 

@Ting Tang Good luck with the recital. I hope it all falls into place in a way that is both safe and enjoyable. 

[Ting Tang]

3 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

My daughter wears a level 3 surgical against her face, and then a snug 3-layer cotton mask over the top, with a filter in it. 

It's incredible how she manages. Her main dance styles are hip-hop and breakdancing. Very high energy!

 

@Ting Tang Good luck with the recital. I hope it all falls into place in a way that is both safe and enjoyable. 

Thank you so much!  🙂   Oh, my niece does hip hop!  Not break dancing, but super high energy!  I've considered double masking but didn't want to compromise the fit.  It is starting to become a problem for her wearing a mask when nobody else is.  😞  Mom is still paranoid.  

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Just now, Ting Tang said:

Thank you so much!  🙂   Oh, my niece does hip hop!  Not break dancing, but super high energy!  I've considered double masking but didn't want to compromise the fit.  It is starting to become a problem for her wearing a mask when nobody else is.  😞  Mom is still paranoid.  

We double mask to improve our fit. The cloth mask holds the surgical one really nicely in place. I tried to find N95s or similar here (Australia), but I got so confused, and I couldn't work out what was legit or not. So, I opted to stick with what we're doing, because it's worked well so far.

You're not paranoid. You're sensible. And I wish more people were. Covid is still a thing. Ignoring it doesn't erase the risks.

[mommyoffive]

17 hours ago, Ting Tang said:

Thank you all for your support.  We're going to contests for her other activity, and it's so much easier for us to have more control over the situation.  She goes to her class wearing a KF94 mask, but it seems everyone else thinks this is all over.  My husband, who has been more skeptical over the severity of Covid did speak with someone the other day who I think actually caused my husband to pause a bit: his college-aged child, an athlete, nearly died from Covid.  I wish they would take some precautions. Cases are definitely rising here.  The recital is in a few weeks--I just got all the details yesterday, so I am going to be watching what happens with our numbers very closely.  Since my daughter is only 7, she is definitely feeling self-conscious about being the only dancer who masks in her class. She tells me she wants people to see her smile.  I wish this wasn't a worry.  This studio was by far the most strict with Covid precautions, and they went from having them all to having none...just in time for recital.  😞  

I wish our kids were not going through this and life could just be normal for them.  It would be so much easier to dance without the masks.  My kids are ballet dancers and their studio is really strict everyone has to mask.  I am glad they are still doing that.  They wanted to get rid of masks, but then cases went up again.  I have no clue how they can do it in masks, they all were KN95 except my youngest.  Once in a while they say something about it being harder in a mask, and it makes me so sad.   

[Ting Tang]

16 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

We double mask to improve our fit. The cloth mask holds the surgical one really nicely in place. I tried to find N95s or similar here (Australia), but I got so confused, and I couldn't work out what was legit or not. So, I opted to stick with what we're doing, because it's worked well so far.

You're not paranoid. You're sensible. And I wish more people were. Covid is still a thing. Ignoring it doesn't erase the risks.

I hear you on this!  I read a few articles about how to tell if the masks are legit, but I've just been buying the same kind because I do feel they've worked---or we've been lucky! 

3 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I wish our kids were not going through this and life could just be normal for them.  It would be so much easier to dance without the masks.  My kids are ballet dancers and their studio is really strict everyone has to mask.  I am glad they are still doing that.  They wanted to get rid of masks, but then cases went up again.  I have no clue how they can do it in masks, they all were KN95 except my youngest.  Once in a while they say something about it being harder in a mask, and it makes me so sad.   

It is very sad.  I don't know when I will feel comfortable resuming life without masks.  I know some have had covid multiple times and probably just deal with it, and maybe I am ridiculous for thinking I can still evade this very contagious disease.  My daughter only does the one class, so it is very doable for her to dance in the mask.  We also homeschool still and stay home a lot, so they never have to wear them for extended period of time.  Her recital will probably be the longest.  I know the more time you spend in a room with Covid, the less protection a mask has.  Hopefully we will get lucky!