Contra Dance Admission Survey

December 28th, 2017
contra
I looked over all the dances I have listed on trycontra.com to see what the range of prices dances are charging is. [1] I got prices for 287 dances:

  • Average was $9.06.
  • 221 dances (77%) offered some sort of discount.

  • The most common discounts were to students (172, 60%) and members of the organization (91, 32%).

  • 53 dances (18%) offered a "youth" discount, but they varied wildly in their definition of "youth", from "13 and under" to "35 and under".

  • 23 dances (8%) used a sliding scale. Here's the range:

Here is the raw data: google sheets.

(I was initially interested in this because I'm trying to figure out what I think BIDA should do for pricing. National numbers aren't actually that helpful for this, but I decided to figure them out anyway.)


[1] Methodology Notes:

  • I ignored free dances and ones where I couldn't find a price on their website.
  • I put sliding scale dances at their midpoint, rounded down to the nearest dollar.
Referenced in:

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Ozy at LessOnline!

I will once again be a guest at LessOnline, alongside many other writers whom you no doubt like less than you like me: Scott Alexander, dynomight, Georgia Ray, David Friedman, Nicholas Decker, Jacob Falkovich, Kelsey Piper, Alicorn, Aella, etc.

via Thing of Things March 23, 2026

Daycares and the Brown School

As someone in Somerville I notice that there are quite high prices regarding childcare. The average family in Somerville pays $1,100 to $3,500 for daycare per month, and I want to make the costs more affordable. I have also noticed that housing is quite …

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts March 22, 2026

2025-26 New Year review

This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Highlights include a minimal group house, the usefulness…

via Victoria Krakovna January 19, 2026

more     (via openring)