(Ross Lavigne /CHAT NEWS)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Local Gymnastics clubs, Dance studios pushing province for reopening

Jan 5, 2021 | 5:12 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB- Gymnastics club owner Randy McMullen is the only one inside his 6000 sq foot facility, Twist and Flip Gymnastics.

His gym has been forced to close twice due to the COVID-19 restrictions, and he said navigating the pandemic as a business owner has been a roller coaster ride.

” At the beginning, we were at 50 people that were allowed in the facility responsibly with all the guidelines. Then I believe it went to 25 per cent than 50 per cent of our fire capacity, and then it went to one on one personal training, which we were fine with because we could still schedule we had to reschedule it was a lot of work to reschedule then all of a sudden, I don’t know who is making the rules for AHS but I can actually go to people’s houses and train them out of their house and go house to house, as the rules state right now which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

During the first shutdown, McMullen spent a lot of time and money to ensure his facility could reopen once again for summer camps and the fall season, by investing in disinfectants and ensuring all guidelines are met.

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“I think it would be safer for them to come here in a big 6000 square foot facility, one person at a time or even more as long as we follow the guidelines and are spaced out,” he said.

McMullen said the shutdown has been hard on his students, which is why he is pushing the province for a regional approach to reopening, considering the COVID-19 case numbers regionally are much lower than the rest of the province.

“If malls are open, then I think gyms should be as well,” McMullen said, adding that the shutdowns have had a significant impact on his business.

“It is really hard for me to still have these expenses and not have any revenue coming in. So I don’t know how much longer I can take that, or any other business that isn’t open right now,” he said.

The push to reopen is shared at Hit The Floor Studio of Dance. The studio has joined a chorus of others as part of DanceSafe Alberta who have signed a petition calling on the province to consider them as educators as opposed to just studio owners.

“There is less rules involved shall we say. Like for example right now music classes can continue on a one of one basis, which includes instruments and singing because they are considered educators. We are just considered dancers therefore we can’t continue even on a one-on-one basis,” said studio owner Ashton Breton.

Classes have resumed virtually through Zoom, but it has presented its challenges.

“Virtual classes are not for everybody. They are harder to teach, they are harder to learn. They lose that person-to-person connection ” Breton said.

Austin Buckley is one student taking part in virtual classes, and he told CHAT NEWS Today he is eager to return to the studio.

“Overall being back at home is not great.It’s still really not that much better. It’s very depressing honestly just being stuck at home again,” he said.

His mother Niki agrees.

“ It’s tough I’ve got four little dancers varying from three and a half to 13, two of them are at the competitive level, and as such, they are used to spending several hours a week here, there whole schedule kind of revolves around it and they’ve built really close friendships with the kids that they’ve danced with,” Niki Buckley said.

Parents at the studio, have started their own movement of sorts by emailing local representatives to make sure their voices are heard.