Delight for dancers in Mossley

Thursday, 24 September 2020 17:32

By Lisa Burns

Twinkle-toed youngsters were back tripping the light fantastic in Mossley last weekend.

Mossley School of Dance had to close its doors, like many other community groups, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But following changes to class times, extra sanitising and social distancing measures put in place, the school, which is based in Mossley’s Roughtown Community Centre, finally opened its doors last Saturday.

The community dance school, which had to cancel its annual fund-raising show in May at the George Lawton Hall, was established in 1975 by principal and founder Marjorie Nield.

It specialises in ballet, tap and modern dance.

Its annual show raises cash for the NSPCC and children’s cancer charity Clic Sargent.

Over the years the show has raised thousands of pounds for both charities.

Dance teacher Rachel McKechnie said it was wonderful to have everyone back dancing again.

She said: “We have been really looking forward to getting back to class and have missed the pupils, parents and carers so much.

“We are a community dance family at MSD, so it’s been difficult not having this and of course missing the show.

“We have been limited by the reopening of the community centre and the government guidance around this.

“The community centre has made lots of changes to ensure safety of user groups with clearing, repainting of all areas and provision of hand sanitisation.”

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Rachel said the school had also made changes to how they work.

This includes a slight change to class times to allow for cleaning in-between classes and to ensure limited crossover of classes.

There are also marked areas on the floor in the main hall so each child has its own 2m section and all the classes are separated into bubbles.

Rachel added: “There is a change of entry/exit to the building, including own zones for toilets etc.

“For example, older groups use the main entrance (drop off only) and younger groups use the separate cafe entrance (a limited number of parents can wait in this area with masks - restricted to younger classes who need their parents on hand).

“We no longer have kitchen facilities, so there are no brews and toast.

“But it all went really well on Saturday and we were so proud of all the girls who all adapted brilliantly and were amazing at dancing within their allocated areas.”

For more information on how to join the dance school visit their Facebook page, email rachelmckechnie1971@gmail.com or call 07808 825263.

Images by Nigel Wood

Delight for dancers in Mossley

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