CALGARY -- A Calgary dance studio owner of international renown wants to reopen his studio, which was forced to shut down last week due to the rise in COVID-19 infections.

While Yukichi Hattori, the longtime principal dancer at the Alberta Ballet, wants to stop the spread as much as anyone, the data he presents makes a compelling argument, and it's the same one that recently caused Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reconsider his decision and allow dance studios there to reopen.

"Dance studios in the province have had zero transmissions or infections," Hattori wrote in a letter to CTV News. "Studio owners have gone above and beyond the AHS health guidelines to keep the students safe.

"Ballet is a non-contact activity that is executed in a controlled environment. With social distancing, mask-wearing, regular cleaning and with air filters installed, it is very safe.

"It is not fair that we are being targeted while bars, restaurants, where masks are not worn while eating and drinking, as well as mass social gatherings are still allowed to go on. For students who attend HUB online school, their (dance) studios are their only connection to the outside world, and they need it for their mental health.

"Needless to say, studio owners' livelihoods are in danger as well."

Yukichi Hattori

Letter-writing campaign

Hattori is one of numerous dance studio owners in the city who are pressing to get the provincial decision to shut down group fitness activities reversed, through a letter-writing campaign targeted at Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Premier Jason Kenney, and area MLAs.

Former Alberta Ballet and National Ballet dancer Kristen Dennis, who owns the Leslieville School of Dance and Music in Toronto, started the same conversation with her province in October, launching a petition that ended up with more than 65,000 signatures.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw

It was forwarded to provinicial leaders and the health minister, who were then invited, Dennis wrote in an email to CTV News, "to show them how regulated, controlled and safe our operations were."

"We have not had a single case of COVID-19 in our school since we reopened at the beginning of July for arts camps and dance classes," she said.

As a result of the campaign, dance studios were allowed to reopen.

"We continue to remain open even though group fitness classes have been canceled," she said. "Attendance has remained strong. I do believe there are a number of families still hoping for extracurricular activities for their children and they can clearly see that we are doing everything possible to maintain the health and safety of our students and staff. "

Dennis's classes, like Hattori's before the most recent shutdown, are capped at nine students per class.

Doug Ford

"Dance is crucial in maintaining physical, but more importantly, mental health, as it has been proven to increase serotonin in the brain," she said.

Hattori, in a phone interview with CTV News, said that private sessions with up to four students and one coach were still allowed  as a private session, but he sees no reason why he shouldn't be allowed to teach nine at a time.

He's not opposed to the notion of a complete lockdown, but feels as if dance studios have been caught in a maze not of their own making.

"It's not that we're trying to go against the government's plan," he said. "We just find that it's not targeting the places where the spread is really happening. We're definitely not the cancer of this problem for sure. We're doing really well because kids, all they have is studio, schools and home. So it's three cohorts, back and forth.

"I totally understand how government can't know everything about every single business and how it's run so we just want to have a conversation with them so they can understand: we can do this safely.

Dance studio

"We assign kids to their floor spots. We have grids on the floor. so they stay in their grid. Masks on and sanitize every 20 seconds - we have air filters to clean the air, 24/7. It's not just us, every (dance) studio is doing it," he said. "It's not like the shopping mall, where half the people are walking around with their noses out."