A La Mesa dance studio operator has lost around 75% of her clientele, but she’s staying on beat hoping for better times ahead. NBC 7’s Melissa Adan has her story.
Under California's reopening plan dance studios are allowed to open, operations however are a bit different than they used to be. For one La Mesa dance studio, they are fighting to keep their music on.
"I just had a little girl write me a note yesterday that said, 'Thank you for being open' and that brings me so much joy and that's why I opened it," said Nadia Gewarges.
For the last two years Gewarges is teaching all kinds of moves at her studio Dance Dayz at the Grossmont Center Shopping mall.
"I love it there's nothing else I would rather do," said Gewarges.
The passionate La Mesa dance teacher wants to keep her studio open and worries with low enrollment that her business may not survive.
"If parents are kind of waiting to see how it goes, we may not be here," she said.
In March, the studio closed its doors and turned to online classes, but now they are back open. While she's thrilled to be teaching in person once again, she's lost about 75% of her students.
"If I had to close, I mean it would be so sad because I put so much work into this," said Gewarges.
Dance class is now a bit different, Nadia has modified the way she teaches by avoiding props and certain dance moves. She's also limiting class sizes, sanitizing every hour and ensures to keep students spaced out.
"With the little kids they want to hold your hand and they want to walk across the floor and do moves together and it's so sad that I can't hold their hand," she said.
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Nadia hopes her classes will slowly start to grow so she can teach more promising young dancers some moves. Her classes are available Monday through Saturday.
