Boston Social Dance Covid Requirements

April 11th, 2023
contra, covid-19, dance
Because social dancing involves being pretty close to other people, many events have covid requirements after most other things have stopped. I was curious what dances have what requirements: I found 35 different series and put the results in a sheet. Here's a chart:

Notes:

  • Some dances are grouped because they are similar forms; others are just grouped because they happen to have consistently similar policies and I had too many colors.

  • If multiple dots would be in exactly the same place I shifted some to the right so you can still see them.

  • I didn't code the difference between "strongly encouraged", "encouraged", "optional", "permitted", and not mentioned. All of these are "optional".

  • "Double surgical" is coded as "surgical".

  • Some dances offer the option to test instead of showing a vaccination card; this adds another dimension I didn't chart.

  • One dance requires a booster from within the last six months; I coded it as requiring a bivalent booster, since those are the only boosters that includes. I'm curious if they would turn me away, as someone who got my last shot 7+ months ago and isn't eligible for another?

Patterns:

  • Ballroom, Bachata, and Salsa don't require anything. Bullet points below ignore them.

  • Swing dances are the only ones with "masks required until [time]" policies.

  • Contra and English Country are the most strict on masks (no one else requires high-filtration masks), Swing is the least.

  • Blues, Fusion, and Swing are the only styles ones that have some series that don't require vaccination.

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