YOUNG dancers from across Barnsley have been teaching their family members a routine as part of a aptly-named ‘Strictly Isolation’ scheme.
Rotherham-based Karen Byron School of Dance has been closed to the public due to the lockdown measures, but members of the group have still been getting in their weekly exercise in a novel way.
Claire Clark, 36, of Sidcop Road in Cudworth, has found the dance school to be extremely helpful to her seven-year-old daughter since lockdown began, especially since both Claire and her husband are frontline workers at Barnsley Hospital.
She said: “The ‘Strictly Isolation’ competition was set up by Karen and it’s been a great way to get the kids moving.
“At the start of the week Karen sends a video out of a new dance routine that the kids have to teach their ‘celebrities’, usually parents or siblings, and then they have to perform that at the end of the week and send a video into the school.
“A proper judge gets brought in and we all dress in nice clothes for the ceremony, it’s a real treat and I know it puts a smile on a lot of people’s faces.”
Claire admits that her daughter has struggled with the lockdown period due to the drop in the number of activities she is doing, but this scheme by the dance school has really helped.
“Obviously because of the situation that we find ourselves in there hasn’t been any lessons or competitions which has been really hard for Louisa,” she added.
“She’s usually dancing four times a week and going to the competitions every weekend, so having something like this where she can let off some steam is great because she hasn’t really got anything to do – lockdown has been really hard for her.
“She’s used to being a social butterfly, going to dance and then choir and things like that, and now it’s really hard for her doing nothing, especially because a lot of other parents are getting to spend lots of time with their children.”
