Code of Conduct & Values
The Open Practice provides an extra space between social dancing and classes to further help you solidify what you learned, take an active role in your learning process, and discover yourself as a dancer.
We achieve this in a space that is inclusive, caring, safe, playful and supportive. These are our values, and we act according to them.
- Inclusive: everyone is welcome to practice;
- Caring: the organizers want to do everything they can to make you feel like you can ask questions, you can ask for help, and that you are most welcome to dance with everyone;
- Safe: we have a zero tolerance policy for any sort of harm, harassment or discrimination. If you feel someone did something inappropriate, please be in touch with the organizing team. The organizing team also reserves the right to remove any individual from the events who display unsafe behavior towards their dance partner (this includes risky dance figures).
- Playful & Supportive: you might have some goals of your own, or you might want to learn how to formulate them. We are there to support you. There are no mistakes, just a learning process! We also like to not take ourselves too seriously and discover new things through playfulness.
Everyone who joins, participates in creating this space: yourself, the organizing team, your teachers, and your scene organizers.
History & Organising team
The Open Practice started out of the dance school Swing in Rhythm in Rotterdam in January 2016 on the initiative of Zoë (who not only had the pleasure to learn her first lindy hop steps at Swing in Rhythm but had the pleasure to teach there for two years.)
Since the beginning, Swing in Rhythm teachers have joined the Open Practices to support students in practicing what they learned in class. April 2018 marks the beginning of a new adventure for the Open Practice with a new format and new experiments.
The organising team consist of a group of volunteers and they are supported by dancers from the community to run the open practice sessions - the registration, the bar, the care team, the welcome team. For learning inspiration sessions we invite dancers from our own community and other cities to share their love for dancing and inspire us to learn and experiment and rediscover.