Dance Safety / Policies

​We want to create a safe and friendly environment. Please be aware of the following guidelines:

Guidelines

• Try to dance with each person once until you’ve danced with everyone in the room (wherever possible). Make sure everyone at social dancing has the chance to be included and enjoy their time at dance. Generally you don’t have consent to assume a second or third dance. 

• Never teach or give feedback on the social floor or during classes. Your goal is to provide your partner with a fun dance, not to give them a lecture or talk them through patterns. There are always revision sessions available after class and during social dancing where you can seek advice.

• Be cautious of your partner’s physical comfort and limitations when dancing. Consider how recovering injuries, dance experience, height or other factors might influence what your partner can do. Make sure not to rest your thumb on your partner’s hand, to pull too hard on your partner’s arm or to lower the follower’s arm as they turn underarm, as these can cause injury. Folds and ducks are potentially dangerous if forced or if your partner is injured. 

• Consent is important. If at any time you don’t wish to dance, you can say “No thanks”, with no further explanation. If someone says this to you, don’t be offended or try and talk them into dancing. Just move along without offence. If you are asking someone to dance, ask for their consent clearly (e.g. ‘Hey, would you like to dance?’) and make sure they give clear consent to dance with you (e.g. ‘Yes, I would love to’), rather than grabbing people. 

• Dance West Coast Swing (WCS).  We generally like to stick to WCS on the social dance floor, but if you would like to dance to another style you must ask your partner before the dance. Teaching your partner moves from another dance style while on the social floor is a double offense! 

• Feel free to choose whatever dance role you prefer. We invite everyone to choose their own role, lead or follow, but if you’re a beginner, we recommend you stick to one role for the first few months while learning.  We expect people to dance with leaders/followers of any gender without bias. 

• Respect people’s boundaries. Remember that dance is a vulnerable place, and everyone enjoys themselves best when they feel physically comfortable and safe with their dance partners. We do not tolerate any kind of verbal or physical harassment of our dancers

• Be civil. If you choose not to interact with someone for any reason, that's ok, But try to be polite even when avoiding someone.