Dear Dance Studios,

Although things are looking better and better as some dance studios are being allowed to resume classes, we have made the difficult decision to cancel The Battle for this year. With many things still uncertain, we wouldn’t have the time we need to prepare for The Battle without 100% confidence that we can have The Battle in the way that it is meant to happen. The Final Battles are the most exciting part of the event and that’s not a very “socially distant” activity. So for those reasons we have had to postpone until next year.

But on the much brighter side... after a couple of reschedules, we are excited to announce that we are optimistic that Utah Dance Fest will happen on June 10-12 at Logan High. Most of the studios who were planning to attend back in March are still planning to dance with us. But a few have decided to end their seasons and move on so we have willingly issued full refunds to them. Which leaves us with the possibility of accommodating a couple more studios if you weren’t planning to attend before and would like to now. So below is our action plan for how we plan to do things. Let us know ASAP if you are interested in joining us.

We have met with our local Health Department and our Logan School Superintendent. They are both very helpful and willing to help us make this happen if at all possible while staying within state guidelines. Their main concern isn’t the audience but rather the dancers on stage. Right now the requirement is 10’ between dancers which as you understand would make team performances difficult. They do expect this to change between now and mid-June though, so we are monitoring that daily and will keep you updated - although I’m sure you are all following this closely as well.

As most of you know, the Utah governor is expected to change the state recovery stage from orange to yellow probably this week. From what we understand, this raises the group gathering size but doesn’t necessarily change the distancing of dancers. But either way, the solo/duo/trio competition could happen pretty easily. The audience size is smaller so social distancing in the theatre shouldn’t be too hard and with only 1-3 dancers on a very large stage, I think we can meet all restrictions easily. So...

At this point for the Team Competition, we will plan to run it studio by studio, having only 1-3 studios in the building at a time. Each studio will have their own dressing room in order to minimize contact and germs. We will be sure to have only one team on the stage and in the wings at a time and other teams in waiting areas in the hallway before performing. We will pause between numbers as needed to minimize contact in the wings. And following each studios performances, there will be an awards ceremony for your studio (dancers will sit in the audience with their families), announcing and presenting adjudicated awards at that time. At the end of the all team competitions, we will live stream the final awards ceremony and announce all judges, style, overall and Grand Champion awards. There will be no Best of Show Battle this year but Best of Show will be determined by scores instead.

We will also be very careful to remind all participants of wise safety precautions like frequent hand washing and sanitizing and have the theatre and backstage areas cleaned and disinfected as much as possible. We are very eager to make Utah Dance Fest the family friendly, safe & healthy and positive experience you have come to love. I know we are all eager to dance together again and we want to lead the way in finding smart and safe ways to do that as soon as possible.

We love you all and hope you are finding joyful moments in all of this - we have a list of “Corona Blessings” on a white board in our home to remind us of all the good things that can be found in the rubble.

Please let us know your thoughts, ideas, intentions and questions soon - let’s talk through this and make it work for everyone.

See you soon at Utah Dance Fest!