Your body is important and we expect people to respect it. You can be a role model of great behaviour by asking whether your partner would like to lead, follow or switch and what kinds of connection they are comfortable with. Saying “no, thank you” sometimes is also great role modelling!
Dancing is often a close-contact activity, but inappropriate touching and sexual advances have no place on the dancefloor – keep it PG. If you graze someone somewhere you shouldn’t by accident, apologise and be more careful in future.
People coming from different dance styles have different norms. It’s always okay to ask someone to adjust the connection to make you more comfortable, and if in doubt check in verbally with your partner. If you are leading and someone is not following a move, this may be because they are not comfortable with it, move on.
Equally, if you are following you are responsible for your own balance and momentum. Don’t spin faster than you can comfortably stop and don’t expect your partner to catch your weight unexpectedly – no self-dipping!
What if your partner is really cute? If you think they might reciprocate your interest you can ask them once, respectfully and in a public space off the dance floor if they would like to exchange numbers, get a coffee, kiss etc. and accept graciously if they decline.
There’s space for everyone. We can all contribute to making Kaleidoscope a space for everyone by asking people to dance and checking in with them about whether they want to lead, follow or switch. If you’re happy to, dance with beginners and new faces as well as your friends, invite people to dance with a variety of gender expressions and dance backgrounds.
We will not tolerate racial slurs, sexist behaviour, transphobia, ageist, ableist or queerphobic behaviour. This includes demeaning “jokes”, catcalling, and abusive language – even if you don’t think anyone in earshot will be affected.
We need community and love it when people come to Kaleidoscope and meet people they click with. Chatting to people between dances and introducing yourself to new faces is all part of building that community.
Respecting people’s boundaries is as important off the dance floor as on it. Sometimes people don’t find it easy to set limits explicitly, so if you’re carrying the conversation, doing most of the talking or asking most of the questions then maybe take that as a sign to cool off. If you exchange numbers or connect with people you meet at Kaleidoscope that’s wonderful but the same guidelines apply - it’s not okay to harass people online.
What to do if you feel concerned or someone has breached our code of conduct.
You can speak to a member of our care team at any time if you feel worried or uncomfortable. We promise to:
We will never make you confront someone who has hurt you or made you uncomfortable.
We do our best to make sure everyone involved in running the event is invested in our values and abides by our code of conduct. Everyone will be held to the same standards of behaviour and misconduct will be addressed regardless of the status or identity of the perpetrator – that includes our organising team.
We will try to make sure there are multiple ways of making a report, so you never have to complain about an organiser to that person.
What happens when you breach our code of conduct?
We operate on the precautionary principle – in simple terms, this means that if we’re in any doubt about whether you pose a risk, we may act as to protect our community until we are reasonably confident that we can safely welcome you back into it.
We need community, and we need to protect the most marginalised people in our community. We don’t believe in punishment or retributive justice but we do believe in supporting victims and survivors. Consequences of breaching our code of conduct are designed to keep Kaleidoscope a safer space for everyone.
If we believe you may have breached our code of conduct our options include:
There’s always something to learn. Our first two options focus on helping you to understand what behaviour is acceptable and learn more appropriate ways to behave. If you engage with us in good faith, and show that you understand and will adapt, we hope that this will be enough. For more severe breaches, or where we see no evidence of your behaviour improving, we will use additional measures.
After being asked to leave one of our events, or being banned for a period of time we may allow you to return if you can show us that you are not likely to harm the people at our events. This may come with conditions.
At a minimum, we would expect you to be able to show that:
Change takes time. It is unlikely that if you have been banned for a breach of our code of conduct that you’d be able to show us that you have really done the work needed in less than 12-18 months of dedicated effort.
We will always consider the comfort and safety of the community, victims and survivors before allowing someone to return to Kaleidoscope after a ban.
For serious or complex cases we may allocate a team of people to decide the best course of action. They will:
When appropriate, we might work with organisers from other scenes to do this.
16 March - 21 March
Starts, 15:00