The online sessions are being provided for free, whilst the schools remain closed, meaning income has dried up but some bills still had to be paid.
DanceFit accessed funding of a few hundred pounds from Sport Wales’ Emergency Relief Fund, to pay insurance premiums and utility bills . . . and so the beat goes on.
DanceFit company director Holly Corsi said: “It doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but it has been really important to us as it has meant some of the basics can be paid.
“We wanted to keep the classes going and having produced them during Mental Health Awareness Week, we realised how important it was to keep them going for our members and their families.”
DanceFit has grown in recent times and now offer other sports activities such as gymnastics, netball and rugby sessions through the banner of SportFit.
Those classes are based at the Maes Y Coed community centre in Cardiff, but with all sporting locations and facilities still to re-open in Wales, the movement to online has provided children with a valuable link to their classmates via platforms such as Zoom.
In fact, the virtual sessions have produced some positive extra benefits as children from groups who don’t normally meet up, have started to get to know each other.
“It’s been lovely to see people waving and interacting online – kids who might be in different schools, but they have been interacting this way online,” says Holly.
“Unless we do a big show or presentation, they normally don’t see each other. So, in a sense we’ve been able to get kids from different parts of Cardiff in one room together, which has been great.
“One of the things in our mission statement is to try and provide a personal experience for everyone. We want to treat people as individuals, rather than just a number in our membership.”
Keeping their members together and engaged should mean DanceFit and SportFit are well placed to resume their services once the lockdown eases further and schools and community centres start to be available again.
Plans are already being considered into how the locations can be adapted and re-fitted to comply with social distancing.
“The funding has meant we have kept things ticking over, even though it’s been different,” adds Holly.
“It’s meant we have kept all our communications up to date and have been still providing a service, so that people will know when we can pick things up again. That was crucial.”
