Stories of hope and possibility: Dancing through lockdown
During lockdown, Virginia Keast’s home became her dance studio.
Last month I talked about the importance of maintaining a sense of hope and possibility by looking for positive examples of people who have successfully transitioned their jobs or business after the Covid-19 lockdown. Today’s article is one such story.
When Alert Level 3 was announced in March 2020 in response to Covid-19, Virginia Keast’s Wellington-based dance fitness class business, Never Stop Dancing, came to a sudden halt.
Classes at that time involved her being on stage in front of a crowd of people dancing in close contact with one another – none of which could happen in a pandemic alert situation.
This was a business Virginia had successfully built up over four years, having given up a lucrative career as a lawyer.
“I had two degrees and practiced law for 10 years, so leaving all that behind to teach dance exercise fitness classes had been a big move,” says Virginia. “People in the law profession thought I was nuts. Absolutely crackers”.
“But I loved dancing enough to say, ‘you know, I don’t care. I’m just going to do it anyway’”.
Having worked hard to turn her passion into her livelihood, when lockdown happened and everything shut down, Virginia wasn’t going to take it lying down.
“You either think, ‘well, that’s it’, and do nothing. Or you do something. I decided to do something… If people couldn’t come to me I would take my classes to them and go online”.
Again she had to field comments from naysayers who thought she was crazy.
“I was really nervous because everyone was saying to me it would never work, filming myself delivering a dance class with no dancers in front of me. They all thought I should do it live with others on Zoom at the same time instead of pre-record, but I knew then the quality wouldn’t be good enough”.
Determined to give it a go, Virginia cleared out a space in her home, set up the iPhone camera and filmed her dances, crafting her video editing skills as she went.
“It felt like a bit of mountain in front of me, but I worked like a crazy thing. My family didn’t really see me for the first half of lockdown! I was just head down getting it together.”
By the time we came out of lockdown, business was booming. Virginia had 56,000 subscribers dancing to the tracks on her public YouTube channel, the number of views skyrocketed to 12 million, and nearly 300 customers from Wellington and around the world were paying for her weekly online classes.
“I now have people from the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Japan, Italy, Brazil… all over. I get emails and photos from people dancing with their kids in their lounges, and that’s lovely. It makes you feel wonderful.”
Online class numbers dropped slightly when Virginia’s Wellington people went back to in-person classes. But since then, the online classes continue to grow with new customers joining the classes each week from all over the world.
Responding to the lockdown situation gave Virginia an opportunity to grow her business that she had not previously considered possible.
“Pre lockdown, I thought there was no way to grow the business without taking on staff and franchising, which is not something I wanted to do. Now I get to keep up the in-person classes but also reach people across the globe – some of whom are still in lockdown and are really appreciating the chance to dance at home in their own living rooms.”
Overcoming the fear of change
Changing the way she operated her business felt nerve wracking, but Virginia approached it much like she had when leaving law – ignoring the naysayers and following her heart.
“If there’s something that really speaks to you, or calls you, especially when you’re a bit older, you’ve just got to do it. Don’t worry about what people think. You’ve only got one life. You’ve got to be true to yourself and just go for it.”
It can be scary leaping into the unknown but, as I’ve seen with my own clients, the more clear people are about what they really value, the more likely they are to be able to muster the courage to take that leap. The possibility of creating a viable income doing something you care deeply about is a powerful motivator.
In Virginia’s case, it was her love of dance.
A “window of opportunity” when on maternity leave from law gave Virginia a chance to take up dance instruction classes, and she says: “Something inside of me that had been buried deep down came to the surface and there was no pushing it down any more”.
Also important is having good support. In Virginia’s case, her husband fully supported her decision to quit the lawyer role (and its associated income), and that support also helped her when dealing with the unexpected responses about her decision, and change of identity.
“When people ask what you do, and you say ‘I’m a lawyer’, they make certain assumptions about you and treat you in a certain way. And when you say ‘I have a dance fitness business’, they make other assumptions… The difference was amazing.
“At times, it’s difficult when people don’t take you seriously. That can be quite offensive… It made me realise how silly the assumptions people have about lawyers are. It gives you privileges you don’t even realise you have until they are taken out from under you.
“I think that’s something when you are making a big career change that you don’t see coming and it’s one of those things that can trip you up.”
How did she cope? “I cranked up the volume and I hit play!”
“My advice is, forget about what you were doing before and what other people think and other people’s expectations, and just give it your all. That’s what I’m still doing.”
If you need support to follow your heart and change your work situation, get in touch.
About the author: Lucy Sanderson-Gammon, MBA, is a Wellington-based career coach providing online coaching to mid-career professionals who have fallen out of love with their jobs, want to find more meaningful work or get ahead in their chosen careers. Visit: LuminousConsulting.co.nz for more information.