Dance Calendar Format Explanation

This dance calendar is designed to meet the following objectives:

accurate -- I check details, visit venues, etc.
timely -- It is hardly ever obsolete, and I update it promptly!
complete -- Rarely is anything missing
informative -- There is no hype. I don't sell, I tell it straight.
accessible -- You can even get a text version by email. Or fax.
portable -- You can print it out and take it with you.
maintainable -- I don't really want to spend all my waking hours on it
minimalist -- It's readable with a text browser, such as Lynx or WebTV

Often it is updated several times a day, as I become aware of new information. I have to work very hard to discover this information, so that I can make it available freely. This calendar has been on the Net since 1983. I very much appreciate any help - corrections, additions, and suggestions!

The big picture ...

There are two major sections:

Events that happen according some regular schedule, e.g. every week
Special events. (Sometimes regulary scheduled events are listed too.)

There is one single line for each event. It's not easy doing this. But it's worth the effort. In return it becomes very highly usable.

What do all the secret codes mean? ...

(I'm about to change this to use a graphical histogram ... meanwhile: .-=*) (And besides, I'm on the verge of finally using "tables" for this)

MFA$ rates the MUSIC, the FLOOR, and the ATMOSPHERE on a scale from 0 to 3. $ tells you how much it costs. Thus, 302 12 (or *.= 12) means the music is great, there is no room to dance at all, the atmosphere is good, and it costs $12.
If you find this too cryptic, feel free to ignore it -- most other calendars don't bother to tell you this much, mostly because it's a lot of work, but also because it doesn't win popularity contests. Just remember, this is about dancing. A band may make music that's amazingly fantastic listening music, but not exactly ab fab dancing music.

Oh, just so you know, some special events are not rated, and some are rated by an older system, where the scores for Music, Floor, and Atmosphere are just added up, to yield a score between 0 and 9.

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su those are the days of the week

Jan .. Dec yes, you're getting the idea.

{245} schedule details. Sa{245} means the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Saturday each month.

1234 Hm. 24-hour-time. So, 1234 means 34 minutes after noon.

Still mystified by something? Please send me email and I'll explain it or fix it. And if you know a better way to do any of this, I would love to hear it.

Frequently Asked Questions ...

Why are there no events about WCS, Salsa, etc.? By traditional I mean dancing that evolved, with the music, from earlier dance forms. All these dances share essential principles. Lindy Hop is a traditional Swing Jazz dance in that sense. The modern Swing dances are not.
Why are there events that are not about Swing? The calendar includes all traditional social dancing, such as traditional (but not modern) Square Dancing (related to the Big Apple, which is related to Lindy Hop), for example.
What other frequently asked questions are there? I'd like to know. Ask me. I'll list them here, with answers :-)

SMOKEFREE

Swing, Joy, and Lindy Hop

Dancing.Org Peter Renzland Toronto, Canada (416) 323-1300 Peter@Dancing.Org