Dance, Dance, Dance

The 4 primary tabs in the menu bar are Events, Clubs, Schedules, Flyer Central, & FAQ.

The Events menu has 4 submenus:

• Search for Events: Everything on this site is "location based." The settings in this window affect the results of every other page. Use this window to state where you are located (or where you will later be.) Your address can be a postal code, a street address, or a city. The location can also be a popular tourist spot like "Eiffel Tower" or Disneyland. The "distance" will set how far you are interested in traveling from your location. Events shown will be limited to this distance.
• View as List: Displays future dance opportunities listed in date order, within date by time, and within time by distance from your location. Each listing can be clicked to reveal additional details about that particular event. Blue hyperlinks provide access to web sites, club contact email, maps, dance posters and flyers, and other useful additional information.
• View on Calendar: Displays dance info on a monthly calendar view with color coding indicating the lowest level of Square Dancing at that event. Green = Mainstream, Blue = Plus, Yellow = Advanced, Red = Challenge. The Calendar is the only place that it is possible to view dance events in the past.
• View on Map: The Map view displays pins for each dance event based on your current search criteria. Each pin is color coded for the lowest level of dance at that event. Hovering over a pin will reveal an Event Detail window.

The Clubs menu has 3 submenus:

• Search for Clubs: Enter a location address, city, or postal code to indicate where you are interested in finding a club.
• View as List: Displays club names along with Councils, Federations, and Associations. The listing also includes special events that are known primarily by their name. The distance shown is the distance from the location entered in the Modify Search Criteria window. The last column "Verified" will display the date that the club last entered events — be wary of clubs that do not have a recent date. Each club line can be clicked to view the Club Detail window; each blue hyperlink will provide additional information. If the Club Detail window shows "No future events are known," the club has chosen to not enter events on the calendar — let the club know you would like to see their events on the calendar.
• View on Map: Displays each club with a color code for the lowest level of dance. Hovering over a pin will display more information.

The Schedules menu presents the opportunity to immediately create a custom schedule for any caller or cuer, club, or dance facility. The center box for Club Name or Event Name can be used for clubs or for special events, and using multiple boxes at the same time can be used for additional filtering of events. Blue hyperlinks provide access to web sites, contact email, event urls, and flyers.

Our Flyer Central menu presents a wonderful way to explore distant Special Events — take a moment to check out the possibilities that you may find interesting on your travels away from home. The FAQ menu choice brought you to this page.

Click the "Contact WTD Support" button on your Club's Detail page. In the resulting email window, let us know of any changes to the club's "typical schedule." We will send you a special link so that you can take control of your club's dance data without any interference from us!

Every club that is on our site very much welcomes visitors. But… it is important that you contact the club in advance to confirm that the dance details have not changed. Some clubs have to cancel a dance due to a myriad of reasons and disappointment can be avoided. On every Dance Detail page, there is a contact name shown as a hyperlink. Use that hyperlink to automatically send an email to the club's contact person, letting them know of your plans to visit, and you'll be expected as a welcomed guest.

It would also be appreciated if you would poke those clubs that do not have their events on the calendar. Examine the club listing and see if there are clubs in your area that do not have a recent Verified date. Let them know that they are missing out on visitors who won't be aware of their dances until the dance events are added to the calendar.

We do need your help. Every time you give someone money when you attend a dance, let that person know that you used WheresTheDance.com to help you make your dance decision. We know that dancers love our site, but we also know that the clubs are not always aware of how often you use it.

A flyer should ALWAYS be formatted as a PDF — anything else will result in a poor quality flyer. Whoever is creating the flyer should be sure to create a .pdf when they've completed the design. Your computer may already let you "Print" to a PDF file, but if not, you can download a PDF driver for Windows computers.

When adding a flyer to an event, be sure to submit a .pdf when using the Drag & Drop, or the Click & Browse options. A graphic file with a .jpg, .png, or .gif extension is great for pictures, but whenever there is text on the flyer, be sure to always use a .pdf.

AOL is refusing email that we send to AOL users. Many senior citizens who once were the leaders of a square dance club, but are no longer dancing or have left their positions within the club, have found it very effective to ensure they don't get unwanted email by hitting the SPAM button that AOL offers them. We've also found that when we send an update request to clubs, this often entails over 1,000 emails to AOL customers — to AOL, that activity looks like a spammer. This has made it extremely difficult for us to contact AOL users, and we now have to request a non-AOL email address so that we can contact your club.

Please trust that it is not your email account causing the problem — it is all email that WheresTheDance.com sends to any AOL user. This is nothing new; AOL has always aggressively protected their senior citizens, and there's nothing WheresTheDance can do about it. We're sorry.

The colors and shapes of the icons let you visually see what kind of dance, as well as the level of dance. For Square Dance: Green is Basic & Mainstream, Blue is Plus, Gold is Advanced, Red is Challenge.

Two squares = All Squares with no Rounds
SSD or Mainstream
Plus
Advanced
Challenge

A Square followed by a Circle is a Square Dance with Rounds that starts with Squares while also having Rounds between the Square tips.
Plus Dance starting with Squares, then Rounds between Tips

A Circle followed by a Square indicates Pre-Rounds before the Squares begin (while also having Rounds between the Square tips).
SSD or Mainstream Dance starting with Rounds

Many dances will have multiple levels called at the same dance. The colors indicate the range of levels called.
SSD or Mainstream & Plus dance
Plus & Advanced dance
Plus, Advanced, & Challenge dance

A Round Dance will only have circles but will also use colors to show the Phases called.
Beginner
Phase II & III
Phase IV
Phase V & VI

Contra dance (shown with a banjo)

Clogging classes & workshops show with 2 feet:
Beginning clogging
Intermediate clogging
Advanced clogging

Other types of dances and entities that we've not yet come up with a cute icon for will have a generic dancing couple:

We also use other icons to assist dancers with other things you may want to know about:
IAGSDC affiliate (International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs)
Families welcome
Youth oriented — high energy! Call ahead for restrictions.
Handicap oriented — call ahead for specifics.
Live music!
Camping activity or opportunity

What other icons would you like to see? Write us and let us know!

If you use an email program, click this link to send us an email using your email program. If you use web-based email and need to send us an attachment, you can use this email address: Update@WheresTheDance.com.

Where's The Dance very much believes in philanthropy. If your club is having a benefit dance where the funds received from the dancers are donated to a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, Where's The Dance will create a free graphical ad for your dance! This ad display will help ensure the maximum exposure for your dance — and yes, it's free!

Some dance events deserve special attention. These might be conventions, festivals, cruises, benefit dances, etc. To better promote these special events in advance so dancers can plan for them, we created an opportunity for graphic ads to display to a wider audience than a dancer's usual preferences might reach. There's also often interest in items specific to the dance community, such as shoes, jewelry, dresses, and shirts — or in callers who do one-night stands for parties. Advertising with graphic ads is a sensible choice given the low cost and high visibility to all dancers. Click on an ad for more information.

We've created a special interface for smart phones that offers the essentials of what dancers need when away from their computers. Our site works well from both Android and Apple iPhones.

Many dancers enjoy dancing more than once or twice a month, but most clubs only organize dances once or twice a month. This leaves those dancers to find another club or event where they can enjoy dancing, often influenced by who will be "calling" that dance. Finding that out used to require a printed paper dance program that might not be handy. And sometimes we might find ourselves traveling on business, vacationing, and curious about what dance opportunities might be found in our unusual location.

The most amazing part of our site comes from your use of the "Search for Events" tab. Use this tab to tell the site where you're most interested. WheresTheDance.com typically has about 18,000 events around the world at any given time, but don't worry — we deliver a custom selection based on where you are! Enter your address, postal code, or city & state, and all distances will be calculated from that point.

The Clubs menu is a listing of every club that we believe is currently creating dance events. The Events menu shows the events that have specifically been scheduled by those clubs.

It appears that the club is a little behind in entering their dance events. Contact the club using the email link for their club contact and let them know that they need to add more dance events.

From a new dancer's perspective, that would make a lot more sense. But after getting your feet wet in the dance world, the horizon is a lot further off — the dance world offers weekends, conventions, festivals, dance camps, cruises, and more. All of these event types are calendared for your pleasure.

Changes to the Club Detail page are actually quite awkward to make directly. Rather than explain how, please send us an email with the details of the changes you need, and be sure to include the name and location of your club.

Flyer Central is a collection of Special Events that occur all around the world. If you're traveling or would like to find a great dance opportunity far from home, Flyer Central is your best bet for fun. Flyers are added by the WTD staff, since there are a few extra steps required for this feature. If you have a Special Event with 7 or more hours of dancing, or that takes place over multiple days, submit your flyer to Update@WheresTheDance.com. We currently add all Special Events on a complimentary basis, so take advantage of this now, as it may change — paid promotion of Special Events by dance sponsors is what allows Where's The Dance to keep offering this free service to dance clubs.

For a general question, use this button: