SWING TORONTO (Odd Socks)

Good dance etiquette is important.

Scented products: Please don't wear perfumes (or colognes for men) to a social dance.  Many people don't consider it very sociable, some people have allergies or sensitivities to fragrances, some people have asthma and are bothered by scented products. Unscented deodorant and rock salt deordorant are fine. (Also, good quality unadulterated essential oils are not bothersome to most people with scent sensitivities, but even these are best avoided at a social dance.)

Swing Toronto (Odd Socks) and Mostly Waltz endorse the following short articles on dance etiquette by Richard Powers, the internationally acclaimed Stanford University teacher and historian of social dance.

Sketchy Guys  by Richard Powers

(Proviso: the only thing in Sketchy Guys we don't quite agree with is in item 5 re deodorant - we think many people do not need it.  Also, a tiny minority of people are allergic to even averagely fragrant deodorants, but no one so far as we are aware is allergic to the "rock salt" type of deodorant.)

Going Out Dancing by Richard Powers

Ultimate Partnering by Richard Powers

Further comments on dance etiquette and "sketchy guys":

1. If you come to Saturday Night Swing or Mostly Waltz we expect you to have a commitment to good dance etiquette and we definitely expect you not to be "sketchy".  If  someone is being a problem in some way we will address it if we become aware of it - so if it seems to you someone is being a problem or is being sketchy in some way please tell the person(s) in charge or the person at the door. For the record, overwhelmingly the people coming to our events are courteous and among the nicest you will ever meet, but very rarely someone coming may need to be spoken to. 

2. We encourage you to dance with as many people at the dance as possible at least once. However, if there is anyone you do not wish to dance with for any reason, you are not obliged to dance with them, and it is fine to politely decline if they ask you.  No explanation is needed, and no explanation should be requested.

3. Normally people change partners for each song. When the song ends normally you thank your dance partner and then leave them on their own so they can easily be asked to dance by someone else before the next song starts, or so they can easily ask someone else to dance.  (Of course this may not apply if you came with someone special or someone is a personal friend outside the context of dancing - in that case you might well dance with them for several songs in a row or chat with them all night, or as you both please.  Also, of course, this is a rule of thumb - sometimes people like to chat a lot and sometimes people may dance a lot with the same person, but the default assumption is that people are there to dance and listen to the band rather than chat, and that people will be left on their own at the end of each song.)

Left Foot Boogie (of Seattle) on dance etiquette

A poem by the Sufi poet Hafiz:

IF GOD INVITED YOU TO A PARTY

If God
Invited you to a party
And said,

"Everyone
In the ballroom tonight
Will be my special
Guest."

How would you then treat them
When you
arrived?

Indeed, indeed!

And Hafiz knows
There is no one in this world

Who
Is not upon
His Jeweled Dance
Floor.