I am a ballet teacher here is Cape Town and I have been running my own ballet studio for the past 13 years, together with a small NPO project, called the KDC Project. The KDC students are integrated into our ballet studio program. They come from various underprivileged backgrounds and for them, dance is a lifeline.
Our studio caters for all ages, and our NPO project also consists of children of various ages. Our oldest KDC students are presently on scholarships at a prestigious dance college in cape Town.
In the past we have rented various spaces for our classes, but due to COVID-19 lockdown we have not been able to run the studio. As we have only been able to teach classes online, our studio numbers have dropped more than 50% and our poor outreach program has suffered terribly as they do not have access to the online facilities – the data is just too expensive. They have been without classes for 6 months.
Now that the South African lockdown has been downgraded to level 3, we are allowed to start providing face-to-face classes, however, availability of venues is extremely limited due to the fact that no extra-murals can happen at schools, and so everyone is looking for alternative venues to keep their businesses afloat.
Other negatives are the fact that rental is expensive and with the drop in numbers, in some instances, is unaffordable. Our timetable has had to adjust from 6 days a week to 2 afternoons a week, and this means we can’t cater for all our students.
COVID-19 has also brought with it the realization that we desperately need a Homebase for both our ballet studio and KDC project, so that in the event of a crisis such as this we can still offer classes and keep the business afloat.
We would, therefore like to build a dance studio in our garden at home. The problem is, that I am unable to get financial assistance for this due to the financial position COVID-19 has placed me in. We are also not able to get a bond, due to the property being in my father’s name and it’s too expensive to change this.
My mom is in her 70’s and still working as a night sister, and my father has early onset dementia….. neither are in a position to help.
Having a studio here at the house would help to cut down my enormous overheads as well as provide a permanent location for our outreach program. It would also enable me to get our studio back on its feet over the summer months.
I am appealing to anyone who is able to help us achieve our goal.
Thanking you in advance.
God Bless,
Karen
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