And then there is change

Last night the BF and I were talking about how much things have changed in just the last week - how the announcement of everyone being able to get the vaccine starting April 15 is a game changer (remember, not long ago we thought it would be June or July). Suddenly, putting on my event is looking more possible. And I pushed back against this because I didn’t want to have to throw everything together in just a few weeks. Too stressful, too hard, I don’t want to.

But what if I didn’t have to throw it together in a few weeks? The big Swedish summer dance camp has announced they have booked venues for July and August in case they can proceed, and the giant rockabilly festival that’s a week after mine has been selling tickets and booking acts since last year. At the very least, I need to circle the wagons and have my event in place so if I need to pull the trigger all I have to do is send deposits and book flights. I checked in with an epidemiologist friend who has been advising dance organizers - he said we should be good to go in September, especially if I make the event vaccine-only, which may be the only way I can legally proceed anyway. So I started mass emailing. The people who have responded are all-in and are excited to be there. This could actually happen, it really could.

The only thing that could mess me up would be the variants taking over, vaccine distribution getting screwed and/or people refusing it to the point that we don’t reduce infection rates from where they are now, or the big one, which is LA not allowing indoor events above a certain amount of people, and insisting on social distancing. Which I just don’t see still being a thing by September, especially if our numbers continue to plummet and the vast majority of people are vaccinated. My guess is events will be allowed if you have everyone prove vaccines at the door. I also think that by then we will have had a summer of gatherings that will make people start to feel safe again. If everyone in the place is vaccinated and one random person with covid somehow gets in, what are the odds that anyone will get sick or die, or certainly enough people to cause a super-spreader event? I would say the odds of that are 0.0%. The people who are vaccinated but still paranoid can wear masks all weekend or just not come. 

But it all depends on how things go in the next month. I won’t make any decisions until May. April is going to tell us everything we need to know about the rest of the year. For now I believe it’s in my best interests to get everything prepared. I can open registration June 1 and that’s plenty of time. I may not get much of an international contingent, but that’s ok. A slightly smaller event may be better under the circumstances. 

So that’s a big turnaround from my previous stance. I actually feel ok about it; as much as I’d like another leisurely summer, I’m also losing my mind from boredom and lack of purpose. As long as I feel prepared, I’m ok. If I do the legwork now when there’s nothing going on, it’ll make the summer much easier (especially if kids are in school full time come August 3 or 10 which gives me a full month with days entirely to myself). 

Today we head out to the desert (a different one this time) for a week. See you on the other side.