In England, dance classes have been closed since March and have just reopened.
On Tuesday I did a salsa class... The format was very different from a normal salsa class / event. Normally you would between two or three classes followed by a couple of hours of social dancing where you would dance with a number of friends...
The dance community is currently forming bubbles...
I am lucky as my husband dances so he was my automatic choice of dance partner.
Single dancers have been forming dance partner bubbles and allocating a single person to dance with.
Class bubbles have been forming - consisting of five pairs of dancers. For a block of four weeks - the same five pairs will dance in the same class.
The hall had been marked off into 5 mini dance floors and each couple had to dance on their own floor spaces...
There was a path down the middle which you had to use to go to the toilets.
Sanitizer was provided.
You did not need to wear masks - and no-one did.
We had masks with us - but were comfortable that we could be distanced at all times.
There was a single class followed by 15 minutes of music to dance to.
At the end we had to leave by another door.
Cleaning took place between different classes - and we saw friends leave from an earlier class - and queueing to go into the following class.
Again - it was well organised - and virus appropriate.
It was enjoyable - but much shorter than a normal salsa night - and certainly not the same as social dancing with lots of different friends.
It is probably as near to normal as we can legally get currently...
Interestingly - a week ago I was looking into sports masks as I was sure that I would need them for both zumba and salsa.
My experiences this week make me think that they are not necessary for me currently.
I will continue to take normal masks with me to both salsa and zumba in case rules relax before I am ready...
I am risk averse generally - and would definitely wear a mask if going within two metres of anyone.
I cross into the road if anyone walks near me and avoid public transport and shops.
It is good that some things are being organised where social distancing is being enforced so that we can feel safe.
I've been out driving most days - and things are generally going well - although there are definitely things that I need to improve a lot on. I find parking very difficult. I can manage ok if I can just drive into a big gap - and can now (with thought) manage to reverse into a big gap... I can't deal with little gaps though... I still find it all very stressful.
