MUMBAI: In the view of the current Coronavirus outbreak the country has come to a standstill. Schools, colleges, malls, cinemas, pubs, everything has been shut until any further notice. Respecting the need for social distancing to fight this grim period, choreographer Terence Lewis too has shut his dance academy, Terence Lewis Professional Training Institute. Despite of the shutdown he has made sure to reach out to his students through online tutorials. “Given the risks we have closed all classes at the premises until further notice. Had it just been a closure of a couple of days, we would have just told everybody to relax and enjoy their time off! However, we have a full syllabus, and need to keep batches running as per schedule. If the schedule is delayed by a week, it affects the next batch of students coming in and we cannot afford to do that. At the same time, we also need to respect and understand the need of social distancing. In the current situation of Coronavirus, we are already in stage 2 where it starts spreading through social contact, so we had to shut down our institute. Having said that, we live in the age of technology and internet, so I and our instructors are conducting online dance tutorials. 

It is a kind of advantage we have over situations compared to the past- 300 years ago when the plague or other pandemic/epidemic disease hit, they were unable to cope due to complete shutdown. Whereas in our case we can continue to learn using the power of technology.  We have our instructors online, making teaching videos. Dance tutorials are available online."

Mending ways to keep dance in him and his students alive and to beat the monotony in the current situation, is a perfect example of how he brings creativity to life!