Dear MDM Families, 

 

We know that the sudden uncertainty that has interrupted all of our lives is causing all of you to have many questions regarding your enrollment and planned performances at MDM.  Please be assured that we are actively assessing all of the information available to make the best decisions we can on a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis for our students and our employees. 

 

Based on current information and recommendations available as of March 18, 2020, we have made the following decisions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: 

 

CLASS / PRIVATE LESSON UPDATES

• A temporary suspension of public classes will begin effective Saturday, March 21, 2020.  This suspension will continue through March 31, 2020 and will be reassessed daily.  

• Effective immediately, our employees will follow the schools in shifting their attention from traditional content delivery to online engagement opportunities for students. We expect these opportunities to be available during the time that our public classes are suspended. We will provide more details regarding online classes very soon.

• We are evaluating opportunities for very limited, small classes as well as ongoing online class options should the need to remain closed beyond March 31, 2020 occur.  

• Private Lessons that are currently scheduled will continue to be offered through Sunday, March 22nd. We are evaluating the possibility of continuing to offer private, one-on-one, lessons during the time our public classes are suspended. Part of that evaluation includes creating very strict policies that private lesson instructors must agree to in order to conduct a private lesson.  If we ultimately decide to continue to offer private lessons, we will make this policy available to our families for your consideration.

• We will also continue to follow the lead of the State of Kansas Health Department as to when it is safe for local schools to re-open the studio for public, multi-student classes.

 

PERFORMANCES & RECITALS

• Competition Company Rehearsals:  All Company rehearsals scheduled for Saturday, March 21st and any other Company rehearsals have been cancelled until further notice.

• Competition Company Competitions:  Starpower has been postponed (to a date not yet determined) and Stage One has been cancelled.  NUVO has not yet made a decision, but we expect it will be cancelled or postponed as well.  What this means for our Company remains unclear.  We will continue to assess the postponement dates and refund options and make communications as soon as we know how we will proceed.  We know how frustrating this is to all of our dancers who have worked so hard to prepare for this competition season.  Be assured that we are weighing all options for the future and do hope to have an opportunity to see these beautiful dances on the stage again! Thank you for your understanding and patience during this unchartered process.

• Spring Recital: With the recent mandate regarding the closure of Kansas schools, the status of our Spring Recital is unclear. We have already purchased the costumes for this performance and are evaluating options for postponing the Spring Recital to a time when the pandemic has settled to a degree it would be safe to hold a performance. One option we are considering includes offering multiple, smaller performances in smaller venues. We understand that the uncertainty surrounding the Spring Recital poses challenges and we are doing our best to evaluate all options as we plan for the future. Again, we appreciate your patience during this unchartered process. What we CAN assure you of is this: in the unlikely case that we are not able to offer an alternate date for the Spring Recital, we will refund your tickets and your dancer WILL get to keep their costume.

 

In closing, while there are many uncertainties in this time, here are a couple of things I DO know for certain from 20+ years of teaching:

 

The kids are watching how the adults they trust are handling this situation.

 

They are taking cues from us as to how to process the entire situation. History is playing out before their eyes. They are going to need extra assurance, time and familiar things…. one of those familiar things is dance.

 

So we encourage you to engage with your dancers and assure them that there WILL BE a way to keep dancing, learning, and even engaging with one another (albeit remotely for a while) during these uncertain times. And we will continue to provide you with information regarding these opportunities as soon as we have the details.

 

With much appreciation, 

 

Jana Owen & the MDM Staff