DANCERS and teachers at a Dunfermline studio are moving a step in the right direction following a long year of lockdown.

Starting on April 12, students at The Dance Studio will return to what they love as part of a two-week outdoor event.

Laura McFadden, who runs the studio at Lynburn Industrial Estate, is set to welcome back her dancers and teachers prior to the re-opening of the indoor space on April 26.

The car park will transform into three dance spaces as outdoor classes take place and a videographer stops by to record their routines.

It’s an event that Laura cannot wait for, and she told the Press that everyone involved was buzzing to see their friends, teachers and students again.

She said: “It’ll be amazing to have the kids back and seeing all the teachers again.

“We have children who come to one class and then we have others who, for them, dance is their life. It’s not just a hobby to them; they’ll take part in a lot of classes and it’ll mean everything to them.

“Having fun, in-person again, is huge for us.

“Even as an adult, staying motivated has been very hard. Try getting a child to be excited and motivated to dance online after spending all that time doing their schooling online.

“Even kids who love dance so much have drifted off as they didn’t click with online classes on Zoom. The majority of our customers, whether they’ve been attending class online or not, have been paying their fees. As a business, that means so much to me.

“I’ve been extremely lucky to have that support. My business would have been gone without it and I’ll be forever grateful.”

Laura admits that the past 12 months has been difficult but making it through the initial lockdown last year inspired them to persevere for better times.

She said: “I’ve been through every emotion you could imagine in the past year but I’ve never thought about quitting.

“There have been days where I’ve thought to myself, ‘Can I survive this?’ but I’ve never thought about stopping.

“This most recent lockdown has been easier as a business than the last one. Although we’ve been hit harder financially this time around, we knew that we survived the last one and made it out alive. Now, looking ahead, we know we’re going to have kids running back to us – it’s a step in the right direction and everyone is excited about it.”

She continued: “Most sports and hobbies that kids take part in, it’s all about the lifelong friendships they make and the skills they learn.

“It doesn’t matter if they then drop off from dance at 15 or 16, they’ll have those friendships.

“They could then meet each other on a night out together in the future and a certain song will come on and they’ll burst into a dance routine! You can’t take the dance out of a dancer!”

For more information, visit The Dance Studio on Facebook.