by Mel @troubleon8wheels
Hi everyone,
We have had an interesting year so far! Just at the point we think we have things sorted, the goalposts move!
Thank you for the enthusiasm for roller skating with our amazing instructor team. I certainly think they are amazing. All the team learned to roller skate as adults, so we know exactly how you feel, that mixture of nervous excitement. We also have day jobs, children or both, so fully understand that you want to maximise your busy life and get the most out of your roller skate sessions with us. Every member of the team wants you to make your best progress, as we hope you remain a skater long after 2020!
With the huge number of people learning to roller skate during lockdown, we have noticed a real split in confidence levels of our participants. Having trialled our Skate Fundamentals 6-week course, we have decided that asking you to commit to a course is not the right thing to do at the moment. We are concerned that with increasing levels of the virus, you will be frustrated if you are asked to self-isolate through no fault of your own. We would be too. Even though we have offered to join participants by Zoom, this is still not the same as in-person coaching.
From November, all our classes and sessions will be bookable as single sessions only.
We are waiting for our venues to confirm times and dates before opening the booking, and will be notifying our Gangster Skate Crew website members first. (GSC members will get 48 hours priority booking - you will be notified in the Breaking News Forum when booking is open).
Weekly overview:
Monday nights, Yorkshire Dance - Intermediate roller dance - booking currently open.
Wednesday evenings - practise space at Left Bank Leeds (up to 4 people only)
Friday nights, Dance Studio Leeds- Beginner roller dance - booking not yet open.
Saturday mornings, Activ Zone - Learn to roller skate Fundamentals skills - booking not yet open.
Sunday evenings (Sunday Stroll) - Left Bank Leeds pop-up rink space
We are always aiming to add more!
Friday night classes will continue to be Roller Dance Fundamentals, but we want to be clear that this is not learn to roller skate - you will get more from the class if you already feel comfortable on your skates and can step from side to side, roll forwards, backwards and stop. We will go over a fundamental roller dance step each week and teach you some of our favourite routines over the weeks. There will be a lot you can practise at home!
Saturday mornings will continue to be Roller Skate Fundamentals, but with a big change. Now, you will book a single session with one of our instructors, and a maximum group size of 3. We have booked the space, so we can guarantee a clean, dry, smooth, flat space. There will be no passers-by, dog walkers or small children on bikes or scooters! You will be getting a fully bespoke session tailored to exactly where you are with your skate skills. It will be fairly intense, so an hour is plenty! We think this will work better for everybody, as we will no longer need to join participants by Zoom, and as everyone has learned at different rates during lockdown, by giving a tiny group our full attention, we will be able to support more people to learn. We are happy to hire roller skates for this session, please just tell us when you book.
By going to a single-session booking system, we hope to increase the access to our classes for more people. However, we need you to understand that as a small business, we cannot afford to run half empty places, and for that reason we cannot refund you if you are unable to attend. Please make sure you can attend before booking, as refunds will not be given for any reason.
We know how hard it is to find roller skate practise spaces during the autumn and winter. Please support roller rinks, community centres, indoor skate parks and sports halls where you can. We are doing our best to continue to search for safe space to provide practise space. If anyone has a great space, please let us know!
Booking is not yet open for the Hallowe'en Dance workshop, Friday or Saturday single sessions, but we expect booking to open sometime this week.
We hope you can join us sometime and look forward to continuing our in-person classes.
We have discussed online classes, but are not yet ready to run these.