Overview
California Balboa Classic is a place to celebrate Balboa and SoCal swing dance styles. Whether this is your first time at CalBal or you’ve been to all of our events, we ask you to join us in creating a memorable and inspiring weekend for everyone. We are committed to creating a safe and welcoming event experience for all of our attendees, instructors, staff, and volunteers. To ensure a positive and inclusive experience for everyone, we ask for your cooperation with the following code of conduct.
Declaration of Safer Spaces
California Balboa Classic is dedicated to providing a fun, safe, and comfortable event experience for everyone, regardless of age, disability status, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical appearance, dance ability, body size, race, or religion (or the lack thereof). In order to foster respect for the comfort and boundaries of others, we will not tolerate harassment in any form, in person, or online. Sexual language, imagery, and invitations in social situations are not appropriate with any event-managed space, including dances, workshops, competitions, and online media.
Safe and inclusive behavior extends to the dance floor. Please do not offer unsolicited advice to fellow dancers either in class or on the social dance floor. Please use your full range of senses on the dance floor to avoid collisions and injuries. It is every dancer’s responsibility to be aware of their own and their partner’s movement and position, as well as the movement and position of the dancers surrounding them, in order to avoid all forms of dangerous contact.
Please be respectful to both event staff and hotel staff, even if you are experiencing a personal frustration. Without the goodwill of these individuals, a smoothly functioning event is impossible.
Details and Consequences
People who pose a threat to other dancers’ safety and/or other dancers’ comfort are not welcome at the California Balboa Classic.
Harassment includes, but is not limited to, language or behavior that is bullying, abusive, demeaning, discriminating, mocking, intimidating, threatening, offensive, disruptive, or otherwise unwelcome or inappropriate in nature.
Unsafe behavior includes, but is not limited to, dancing while intoxicated, appearing intoxicated in a manner that interferes with other attendees’ comfort or enjoyment of the event, intentionally or unintentionally dancing in a way that is harmful or uncomfortable for your partner or surrounding dancers, creating disturbances, and/or interfering with the sleep or health of other attendees.
Potential attendees who have been in violation California Balboa Classic’s safer spaces policies in the past, or who have been in violation of similar safer spaces policies at other swing dance events or in other swing dance communities in the past, may be notified prior to the event that they are not welcome at the event at the organizers’ discretion. Attendees at the current event violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the event without a refund at the discretion of the event organizers.
All CalBal attendees, instructors, staff, and volunteers are expected to comply with the code of conduct and local, state, and federal laws. We reserve the right to take prompt action in response to violations which may include warnings, notification of denial of entry to the event, expulsion from the event without a refund, and involving local law enforcement.
Attendees asked to stop any harassing or unsafe behavior are expected to comply immediately.
If you have any concerns, contact a member of the event staff immediately and we will take appropriate action which may include contacting safety staff, event organizers, or local law enforcement as needed. The organizers of the California Balboa Classic pledge to treat these sensitive matters with confidentiality and to prioritize the safety and comfort of attendees whenever possible.
Please address all questions or concerns to safety@calbalclassic.com or use the event hotline (available during the event dates) to call or text a CalBal representative.
CalBal’s Code of Conduct was inspired by and borrowed from the LindyFocus Code of Conduct and was composed with the assistance of Marley Hirsch and Traci LaDue. Please help us support the folks who spend their time working on making our swing dance culture a safer, happier place for everyone.