Last year, as we were in the final stages of preparing for my studio's end-of-year ballet recital, the government announced that the traffic light system, and vaccine passes, would come into effect. For us, this meant that any unvaccinated dancer over the age of 12 years would not be able to perform the dances they had been working on. Also, any unvaccinated whanau would be unable to attend. There was not enough time for anyone to get vaccinated for the event.
I had to decide whether to: 1) go ahead with the event and leave some dancers out, 2) cancel it in order to not discriminate or 3) go ahead and look the other way for a few students.
I decided to go ahead with the event, leaving some dancers out. We planned studio-based "dress rehearsals" as an alternative for anyone affected.
In the end, the date set for traffic light was the second day of our four day show season, so we were able to host an extra theatre show under Level 2 guidelines for the unvaccinated students. We held extra rehearsals to make this happen and were able to at least give them a chance to dance on the stage, even if not with their full class.
I come from a pakeha, suburban family with a history of self-employment. Both my parents and both sets of grandparents owned their own businesses.
As a child, I spent a lot of time at these businesses (trucking company, shoe store, dance studio) and as a young person had part-time jobs there. I saw my parents work hard, juggle childcare, and go through stressful times and good times.
I respected the relationships they built in their local communities, their willingness to take entrepreneurial risks, and how they always made time for their children.