A THEATRE school has taken to the great outdoors as youngsters continue to wait patiently for lockdown restrictions to ease.

Indoor gyms, swimming pools, fitness and dance studios can re-open for business from July 25, but with the sun shining this weekend, Taylor’s Theatre Academy decided to head for Tonge Park so they could continue their training while still observing social distancing.

“We have been doing a lot of lessons online but we’d seen a lot of football teams training outside so we decided to get outside,” said Taylor’s Theatre Academy principal Stacey Taylor. “We called it ‘Social Dis-dancing’!”

The academy’s students are usually found training at their home on Ainsworth Lane in Tonge Moor which opened in the former Co-op building earlier this year.

“We had around 40 students on the day and we spread everyone out so they were two metres apart,” said Stacey. “The parents came around and we all stood around in our little bubbles.

“We also had a raffle on the day to raise some money for the school which went really well.”

With the school relying on online lessons, Stacey admitted it was an emotional experience seeing her students again in person.

“Lots of the kids ran over for a hug and I had to say ‘whoa there, we can’t do that’,” she said. “They’re all used to running in and saying ‘hi’ to each other and having cuddles so we had to tell the parents to make sure they knew not to hug or hold hands, but everyone stuck to the rules which was really good.”

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the academy had to cancel their summer show which was due to take place at the end of this month.

“We still ran through all of the numbers because hopefully we can do the show towards the end of the year if theatres are allowed to reopen,” added Stacey.

For more information visit the academy’s Facebook page.