The IHSA has new restrictions set in place for school sports. With that, they have put all sports into 3 risk categories - High, medium and low. Competitive dance has been categorized as a "High risk" sport along with football, wrestling & boxing.  I believe that the decision makers are not fully educated or aware of what dance entails. While not ideal, dance is a sport that can easily be practiced, rehearsed and performed all while maintaining a 6' social distance. All seasoned dancers have been trained to know their "spacing" in their dances, whether 1' or 10'. There is NO reason that dance should be categorized as a high risk sport if coaches and dancers are aware of and abide by the rules. Without a doubt, there is more close interaction in soccer & basketball (both medium risk sports) than competitive dance! Dances can easily be choreographed to abide by the 6' rule and practices can easily be run in a gym, where the 6' rule can be observed. With this petition, we urge the IHSA to speak with school dance coaches further about the details of dance and revise its categories to change dance to a low or even medium risk sport! Please forward this on to any high school dance coach or parent in IL!!