Hamden Dance Studio Turns To Zoom During Pandemic

HAMDEN, CT — Entering the world of dance at the age of 2, Janet Bracale has lived with a constant love of dance, and a desire to spread and teach that love, her entire life.

“As I went along in my dancing classes and conventions and going into college, I just wanted to continue the dancing,” Bracale said.

Even though there were detours – working as a legal assistant, for instance – she never let go of the dream. Eventually, she decided to go all in.

“It was difficult doing both, so I loved kids — still do — and wanted to continue my passion with them, so that’s when I said ‘I’m going to open up a dance school,’” Bracale said. “And now it’s 40 years later. This is our 40th anniversary. That’s how it all began.”

Now, Dance Unlimited has two locations — one in Hamden and one in Branford — fostering an environment that brings students into the world of dance instruction and choreography.

“Students that grow up with me from age two, as they start getting older, they start joining in and being on my staff,” Bracale said. “Which is the best way because they know my philosophies and they know the core of Dance Unlimited.”

The moment the first inklings of COVID-19 appeared on the horizon, Bracale went into action, studying Zoom and prepping the studios for the eventuality of a virtual environment.

“We had meetings about Zoom; we had meetings about safer studios; we had meetings about the electronic and computerized systems that we needed in our studios in order to broadcast all the Zoom classes,” Bracale said. “We have eight dance rooms between the two studios — we ended up purchasing eight digital thermometers; eight big-screen TVs; we purchased an air-purifying system; we marked our floors in six-foot blocks.”

Part of this COVID-preparation process involved upping their computer programming for their registration system and having the fire marshal examine the new, socially distant studio set-up, to re-determine capacities.

And through fortunate building design, lobby mingling was completely cut-off — with entrances and exits for each individual dance room, students and their parents stayed cordoned off from other classes.

“The kids came in — parents didn’t come in — as soon as they came in, we took their temperature and they found their chair. They had their little dance bag with water and their shoes, and that was it,” Bracale said. “At the end of the class, we sanitize the chairs, we sanitize the floor. Masks, everyone masks, still to this day. When we go back in the Fall, we’re going to require them even if you’re vaccinated — we have so many littles that don’t have the opportunity to get vaccinated.”

“In the year and a few months, I think we had maybe four cases, five cases, in the whole studio,” Bracale added, “which is a testament to everything that we did, and the parents listening; keeping their children home if they didn’t feel well; communicating and being honest. With the dance world, it was dark. Before we could get into the studio in June, it was hard for them.”

With their strong virtual setup, Dance Unlimited provided an important outlet throughout the hardest day of the pandemic that reached beyond its students.

“My older kids, some of their brothers would do our stretch classes. They couldn’t do sports — there was nothing offered for the boys,” Bracale said. “We had a father-daughter battle once; we had a sibling contest. We just kept it going for them. I feel like we were their lifeline.”

For Bracale, the most important thing was strengthening their connection with the students.

“Just a lot of ingenuity and a lot of connection with them, because we were the only ones they had,” Bracale said. “Just lifting them up, making them laugh — we wanted to cry, but when they’re on, we’re like ‘hey, it’s going to be fine!’ We’re just trying to keep their lives going.”

Now, after a lot of students returned to in-person classes in January, the studio is largely in-person, albeit with safety restrictions, but Zoom classes remain in use.

“I’ve got a lot of kids. I care about the kids, and right now, they can’t get vaccinated,” Bracale said. “I just want them as safe as possible. Right now, we’re open, but we’re still offering Zoom.”

And though Zoom does have its inherent limitations, Bracale does see it serving as a permanent option — if someone feels sick or can’t dance, they can attend a Zoom class at any point down the line and still, at the very least, study the choreography.

Despite the ingenuity and engagement Dance Unlimited has fostered, the pandemic hit the studio hard.

“To keep going — I have 25 employees and I never laid anybody off. And they stepped up, from day one,” Bracale said. “We had to take a lot of loans. You do what you do. As a business, we did what we did to keep the kids going and to keep the employees working.”

Still, Bracale has hope for the future.

“In January, the phone started ringing. We had a nice percentage of kids come back in January,” Bracale said. “I saw the turn-around coming in January so I’m hoping September will be just as good. They need the outlet; they need dance. Dance saved a lot of these kids. Dance does wonders for their mental and physical being. Mind, body, and soul, that’s what it’s all about.”