Fina: 37-year-old dance school reinvents itself online

  • The school has been opened since 1983 and remains functioning through online classes.
  • Currently, it gathers over 80 students with 6 instructors through Microsoft Teams.

Willemstad, Curaçao – Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, schools in the country had to be closed. However, Fina Dance Art School (Fina), a legendary dance school in Willemstad, managed to remain open and provide online lessons for their students that range from 4-year-old children to adults.

The school has been opened since 1983, and now after 37 years, the health crisis threatened to abruptly leave 300 students and 6 instructors without a place to do what they love: dance.

The management team of the school were not acquainted with any type of technology available out there that could help them deliver classes online, let alone having an IT infrastructure in place due to their old-fashioned way of doing business which was working well before the pandemic arrived.

Luckily for Fina, there was one student that was using Microsoft Teams and referred Inova Solutions (Inova), an expert technology provider company, which helped Fina to create their Online Continuity Plan. This plan came with Office 365 which includes Microsoft Teams and these solutions were free of charge for 6 months as part of the Microsoft response to COVID-19 worldwide.

From the first online conversation between Fina and Inova to the first live dance session via Teams, everything took less than a week to happen. Now, Fina plans to offer these virtual dance lessons as an added value to their normal program once the COVID situations is over.

Learning to dance online

The students were ecstatic that they could continue with their dance classes virtually. They admitted that it wasn’t the same as being physically present in the classroom with the trainer, but that at least they could enjoy the participation and being connected with their peers. It’s now all about losing old habit and creating new ones.

As for the trainers, they admit that this new method of given lessons had to make them even more creative when correcting the students’ techniques as it was quite challenging to correct them with no physical contact. However, just being able to dance and able to stream that to their students while at home, was something really fulfilling for them.

Fina conducts virtual dance classes for a limited group of students to ensure the best experience is being provided. They deliver interactive sessions, blended with new dance techniques and helping finetune the students’ dance moves.

Proven solution at a corporate level

Inova has over 10 years of experience. Through it all, this Essential Kit, as they call it, has provided relieve for other much larger organizations such local governments, schools, and electricity companies in the Caribbean.

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