A new impulse. Dancers are back, the floors are full thanks to the popularity of StarDance

After the covid break, dance classes are returning to the halls. Their prices can be affected by rising energy costs and rents.

While high school students go to traditional "dance classes", many interested adults are drawn into action by the popular program StarDance, when the stars dance. Its eleventh season is currently being watched by viewers every Saturday on Czech Television. And according to the dance masters, this can also be seen in the number of adults who sign up for the courses.

"For us dancers, this is an excellent opportunity, because it brings us new interested parties. For them, StarDance is the impetus to learn to dance. Or to remember the dances," confirms the chairman of the Association of Dance Masters of the Czech Republic, Miroslav Brožovský. But he doesn't look at him much himself. "Of course, from our professional point of view, we support the show. But we have to admit that due to our workload, we don't have much time to watch him," admits Brožovský.

Organizing dance courses for young people is unique in the world, which the Czech Republic stands out from. The history of dancing in our country goes back to the nineteenth century. A similar system can also be boasted in Slovakia, and to a lesser extent the Poles, Austrians and Germans. However, interest among young people, especially in big cities, is starting to fade. This is primarily due to the boom in the Internet and social networks after the turn of the millennium.

"On the contrary, in smaller towns, everything is kept further away. It is also thanks to the help of schools. They often instill in their students that losing a dance is like losing a very important part of life. There are schools where students will bring applications to class. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen as much in Prague anymore," explains Brožovský.

Covid uncertainty

However, the owners of dance schools have not experienced a calm period in recent weeks and months. Every day, they closely monitor the development of the epidemic situation and with it the possible threat of interruption of courses and teaching. Even if the courses are in a more advanced phase and somewhere approaching the final third, this would still be a significant intervention in the budgets of dance schools.

The biggest nightmare for them is rising energy prices or rents. In many cases, the prices for dance courses remained at last year's amounts, or there was only a minimal price increase. "De facto, what we earn, we immediately use for hall rentals. We all save a lot more, for example we don't pay as many dance assistants, yet some financial reserves are created very, very badly," explains Brožovský.

He is also the owner of the dance school Astra Prague, where he also teaches. He only found time for an interview in his overcrowded diary for Deník late in the evening. His classes ended at a quarter to eleven at night. "To survive, I have to work twice as hard as before. The time is really bad," he admits. After the end of last year's season, the Astra Praha school started slightly raising the price of the course fee, which includes ten lessons. "For roughly six years, we kept the price at 3,800 crowns. We raised the price by four hundred. No one had any idea how much prices would rise," notes Brožovský.

The price increase will come

In a similar spirit, some other owners of dance schools react. They also draw attention to the fact that the price increase came at a time when they had already closed recruitment and started teaching. "We accepted applicants during the summer holidays. At that time, we had set prices at the same level as last year," confirms Marek Černý, operator of the Progress dance school in Olomouc, adding in one breath: "However, the price adjustment will have to happen after the New Year."

The Dagmar dance school in Brno has also postponed the price increase until next year. The increase in the prices of dance courses is mainly due to the increase in energy prices. “Covid has made a dent in everyone’s wallets. That's why we kept last year's prices, despite the fact that some colleagues in the area raised prices by almost a thousand crowns. But we will have to raise the prices over time, unfortunately," says school manager Dagmar Keclíková.

According to her, the worsening epidemic situation will be reflected mainly in additional events, such as an extended one or a ball. People who have not been vaccinated against the covid-19 disease will have to prove themselves with a negative PCR test result. In addition, they have to pay for it themselves, if they do not fall into the category of people who cannot, for example, be vaccinated due to health risks. "It's another extra cost," adds the executive.

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