Phase 2: Welcome Back! Re-Opening Celebration (March 2021)

Rae Studios Re-opening: Celebrating reentering the physical world with continued accessibility and flexibility in our class offerings.

This page has been updated: Saturday, March 27th, 2021

Official Opening Date: Tuesday, March 30th, 2021

Recent Newsletter Released 3/27: Click Here

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THIS IS YOUR REFERENCE PAGE FOR RE-OPENING, PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK WITH YOUR PEERS SO THAT WE CAN ARRIVE BACK INTO THE STUDIO PRACTICING SAFETY ACTIONS TOGETHER.

*IMPORTANT NOTE* This page is updated daily. Continue to check this page for the most current operational and scheduling announcements.. The most popular question is about our in-studio class offerings. Check your MindBody app for the most accurate schedule. Please be patient as we continue to make changes in the upcoming days.

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Full IG Recent Post with next week's schedule: View Here

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HELLO RAE COMMUNITY,

Here we go!

We are excited to welcome back our community into the studio. It has been a journey, but San Francisco Officials announced on March 24, 2021, the lift of business restrictions with the city's transition into Orange Tier. Businesses like gyms and dance studios can now re-open indoors at 25% capacity.

We've been anticipating this day. One full year of shelter-in-place has challenged up in more ways then one. What we've missed the most are the sounds of the studio celebrating music, laughter, performance arts and community.

Help us make some noise as, TUESDAY, MARCH 30TH IS OUR OFFICIAL FIRST DAY BACK INTO LIVE CLASSES; opening our doors safely, moving forward together with flexible class offerings.

We are thankful to have our virtual studio and will continue to host virtual + in-studio classes. This is now called our "Hybrid" model to give flexibility as we reenter the physical world, allowing students and teachers options to continue operating in the safety of their homes or live inside the studio. If you've been following our journey, you know that we have taken steps and actions to ensure safety measures from our phase 1 reopening. As we enter phase 2 reopening, we have added even more action items.

Doors reopening require a lot of behind-the-scene needs like rewriting staff manuals, on-boarding & training new and returning staff, purchasing sanitation and operational supplies, rebranding the studio, organizing a large roster of virtual & in-studio instructor schedules, and updating marketing strategies within just a few business days. Keep in mind, the orange tier was just announced, March 24th, 2021. This article along with all the updated hyper links, marketing needs have been created within the past 48hours. We are a small team, so ALL WE KINDLY ASK IS THAT YOU CONTINUE TO BE PATIENT WITH US.

WITH THAT BEING SAID, let's take a moment to highlight our behind the scene managers pushing through multiple layers of operations. Read more about us here.

BIG QUESTION - WHAT CLASSES ARE OFFERED IN-STUDIO?

This schedule will be updated regularly. We've had less than 48hrs to put this together including last-minute instructor & staff interviews/auditions for in-studio positions. Check your MindBody app for the latest updates.

For classes in-studio look for the term: "HYBRID" see below.

• View the class schedule here

• Sign up for virtual or hybrid in-studio classes here

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HOW TO ARRIVE AT THE STUDIO:

Please prepare your arrival with the following items:

• Breathable Masks (must remain on at all times properly covering nose and mouth)

• Water bottle (Refill stations available)

• Sweat Towel

• Proper shoes/dance gear if needed (ie. knee pads, jazz footwear, heels etc)

IN-STUDIO CHECK-IN PROCESS LOOKS LIKE THIS:

IN-STUDIO SOCIAL DISTANCING SAFETY MEASURES:

*Note: New floor marking photos will be updated here Monday, March 29th

• Enforce staff and customer requirements for face covering the nose and mouth at all times before, during, and after class.

• Enforce customer registration in advance to decrease touch point transactions.

• Temperature checks upon arrival (Vaccination cards welcomed, temperature checks enforced for all arriving students).

• Plexiglass set up at registration.

• Markings place on the floor to ensure social distancing (inside & outside) dance studio.

• Limited capacity to 10ppl in S1 and 6ppl in S2.

• Airflow: Windows opened in every studio, lobby, dressing room. Ceiling and floor fans available and air purifiers set up in S1 & S2.

Note: This section will be updated Monday, 3/29 with new Floor Markings

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Here’s are the steps we've combined from the 1st reopening and in addition to the 2nd reopening guidelines:

• Use various communication channels: IG, Zoom, Clubhouse to discuss what reopening tactics worked for others and how to make people feel safe

• Host outdoor classes for airflow, limited capacity, and COVID safe measures

• Continue to create flexible packages for our audience: Livestream, On-Demand, Outdoor, In-Person

• Reopen Management hours to Monday & Wednesday 9am - 5pm

• Update our Operations Guidelines to fit safety procedures: Click Here

• Prepare services for Virtual, Hybrid, and Live In Studio Classes

• Update all online and in-studio policies, signage, and supplies

Key Terms to Identify: We should be familiar with these terms, just to revisit:

• “Virtual Live Streaming”: Group classes held on Zoom

• “Hybrid”: A combination of Virtual Live Streaming + In-Studio created for max efficiency. We understand that this may be a concern for students. It is our goal to keep the company afloat and continue providing options for both Livestream and In-person.

• “In-Studio”: Mostly used for Choreography and master programs. No live-streaming available for this option.

• "On-Demand" "Pre-Recorded Videos (Corporate Bookings avail, public videos coming soon)

How much are tickets?

• In-Studio: $20 Single (Must pre-pay, seats limited) Packages are not available at this time; however, previously purchased packages prior to our studio closure are accepted. *Monthly Unlimited Members are accepted!

• Livestream: $15 Single with discounted packages available, 7 Day Unlimited and Monthly Unlimited Access available.

• Outdoor Classes: $20 - $25 Single Ticket or packages available (In-partnership with Bay Club)

NOTE: *Monthly Unlimited Members will have access to both In-Studio and Livestream classes. As we continue to grow into a full capacity, this rate will change. 7-Day Unlimited is valid for livestream classes only.

How do I reserve or purchase these tickets?

On our signup page/MindBody, you will see two types of titles for our classes: “Livestream” or “In-Studio”. Please note that our “Hybrid” classes will have two sign-up links.

“Live Streaming” Classes:

• Continue reserving classes via MindBody under “Livestream” title

“In Studio” Classes

• Click “In-Studio” to reserve for a class inside Rae Studios. Keep in mind, there may be two class links for this class. That means that we will be streaming live as well. Tickets are limited. Must reserve early. No drop-in allowed.

• If a class only has one sign-up link titled “In Studio” please note that this class is only offered In Studio and cannot be Live Streamed. We anticipate that this will be for specific choreography classes that we require large floor movement.

Our goal for the studio is to always consider the safety of our community.

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Upcoming topics to be added coming soon:

• Our Story: "A Rae Studios Shelter-in-Place Story" Timeline Grid

  • What have we accomplished in 1 year during the COVID-19 pandemic. A dedicated timeline grid of our work will be designed, printed and posted inside the physical studio as a reminder that "We got through this, Stronger Together".

• Welcome Back Celebration Event

• Updated Rae Studios Press Deck (including Our "Shelter-in-place Story")

• Boombox Sunday - Continued Outdoor Class Experiences (Link Boombox-sf.com site)

• Clubhouse Schedule - How we continue to build within our dance community across the world, other studio entrepreneurs, artists, students, dance enthusiasts.

• Upcoming Spotlight Events & Pop Ups

• Highlight Corporate Clients & Sponsors who've supported us during SIP

• Introducing On-Demand Classes - Q3

In our perfect world, we will open and offer the following; Virtual Live Streaming Classes, In-Studio Classes, and Hybrid Group classes allowing us to continue operation through the virtual and in-person mediums along with rentals, corporate wellness, and privates. We are so appreciative for companies like "The Profile" who continue to give us a voice and share our Small Business Story. Wellness, community, and inclusivity have always been our priority. At the end of this journey, we are proud to look back to acknowledge all of our efforts operating through a pandemic, creating space and voice for social change, adapting to natural disasters, all while supporting healthy minds and bodies through movement and music.

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To conclude:

We’d like to take a moment to give a big thank you to our Volunteer Hosts, Instructors, Staff, and Students for the continued support through these times. Our goal has and always has been to keep our community together. We are feeling pretty proud as we continue to meet this challenge. We understand that taking classes virtually isn’t the same as taking classes and we are beyond grateful for the continued push. Thankfully, in those virtual classes we’ve gained a larger community of students outside the bay area. Both returning students and new students. As you know, managing a small business during these times has been challenging. We are a small team and will continue to provide services to the best of our capacity. Please bear with us over the next few days, weeks, months as we transition from virtual classes to a Live / Hybrid / Virtual operations class flow.

On a brighter side note, this is Jessica Rae speaking and I am beyond proud to praise my team:

• Kevin Wong, Studio Manager

• Andy Blake, Operations Director

• Trisha Fuerte, newly hired as our Community Liaison

• And our HOSTS for all their volunteer time and energy

  • Anastasiia Allen

  • Belle Peng

  • Brenda Palaby

  • Chloe Sorenson

  • Gretchen Walker

  • Liezel Weibel

  • Lindsay St-Louis

  • Lourdes Ramos

  • Miky Chau

  • Tashi Cowan

  • Thara Zulueta

  • Trisha Fuerte

Photo of our last brunch party celebrating our hardworking hosts!

Last note, to wrap March 2021, our Community Liaison leader, Trisha has put together this video montage to highlight our Women's International Month with various Women Instructors who've shared their wellness & creative craft within our community.

Link to re-share: here

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As always, thank you, everyone, for your unwavering support,

Rae Studios Management

Jessica Rae, Andy Blake, Kevin Wong, Trisha Fuerte