Yes please! CSD relies on volunteers to run. Your help is what makes it possible to put on classes and social dances. We’d love it if you could help us out occasionally at one of our regular events by volunteering to look after the door. You will get our undying gratitude, free entry on the night, and free class for every 3 times you volunteer. Volunteering involves coming to the classes about 20 minutes earlier to sign people in and signing in any latecomers that show up during the class (normally the first 10-15 minutes). Then you get into the class and the rest of the evening social (DJed or live music) for free!
We have a spreadsheet where you can sign up in advance, and also a WhatsApp group where we ask for volunteers if nobody has signed up in advance for that week. You can sign up up to 1-2 months in advance. ​ Email volunteering@cambridgeswingdance.com for details.
Of course! You're welcome to come to our Blues socials on Mondays or swing socials on Tuesdays, just turn up and pay on the door. You don't have to go to the drop-in lesson beforehand if you don't want to, many of our dancers just turn up for the social dancing portion of the evening. At our socials it's usual for people to dance with lots of different partners.
If we find lost property at one of our regular venues, we'll post a photo of it on our WhatsApp community in the CSD Community chat. When venues have other users before us and we're not sure the items are from our dancers, we may leave the items in the venue's own lost property storage (so you can get it back when the venue allows, or at our next session), otherwise we'll put lost property away with our equipment (so you can get it back the following session).
If you lost something at a weekend event, we'll use the WhatsApp group for the event, so keep an eye on that. You can also contact us to see whether we've found it.
Please collect your lost property as soon as possible. Lost property is not securely stored and we can't accept responsibility if items go missing from our or a venue's lost property storage.
Of course! We don't own dancing in Cambridge. We are happy for people to use CSD's channels (like the Facebook and WhatsApp groups) to advertise swing or blues dancing events which don't clash with our events or regular classes. Feel free to contact us to find out about planned events which we may not have publicised yet. We can also provide flyers or business cards for CSD if you're doing a one-off event and don't mind mentioning CSD as a place to continue dancing.
Note that your event won't be covered by CSD's public liability insurance or PRS licence, and should not use CSD's branding.
The community that we have built here in Cambridge (and the wider swing dance world) is generally a welcoming and friendly one, with instances of inappropriate behaviour a rare thing.
That said, like many other swing dance scenes, we have a Safer Spaces policy outlining what is and isn't acceptable. We hope this is mostly common sense!
We also have safety secretaries. They are available for discussion and reassurance, not just formal reports, so please do tell them about your concerns – of any shape or form. You can see who they are on our Safer Spaces page. You can speak to them in person or contact them directly by emailing welfare@cambridgeswingdance.com (this email address is read only by the safety secretaries, not the whole committee).