Values & Code of Conduct
Our Values
Lindy Hop and Solo Jazz are Afro-American Dances that we all love. It is our responsibility to make sure we learn to respect and appreciate their history and culture. All participants of the Bottoms Up! Festival are welcome to contribute to this by exploring the culture and history of these dances.
We would like to create a space in which we can explore dance in an open, respectful, and safe environment while appreciating the personality of our fellow dancers, regardless of their background, health, disability, age, sexual orientation, physical appearance, religion, or dance level.
By participating in the festival, you agree to read and adhere to our Code of Conduct. During the festival, you can always reach out to our Awareness Team if you feel uncomfortable for any reason or observe unpleasant/inappropriate behaviour. We will handle your issue confidentially and will provide you with the best possible support in resolving the problem.
Code of Conduct
If you are asking
for a Dance
If you like to dance with someone, ask kindly and don’t just grab their hand. When asking someone to dance, tell them if you want to lead/follow/switch or ask them which role they prefer. Avoid making assumptions about dance roles based on physical characteristics or identity traits. If someone declines a dance —even without giving a reason—that’s perfectly fine. Please do not feel offended by this.
If someone asks you for a dance
You always can say no. If someone asks you for a dance, it’s okay to decline. The other person will certainly appreciate an explanation, but you are not required to provide one.
By the way: If someone dances solo on the dance floor, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t have a partner and would like to be asked to dance.
your own well-being is important
If during a dance you don’t feel well for any reason, please feel free to tell this to your dance partner or to stop the dance at any time, for example, if you are feeling pain, if you don’t want to dance too closely or if you don’t want to be touched at any part of your body. Your own well-being and your personal safety are more important than politeness.
Lifts, Dips, Aerials
Please never do any lifts or aerials on the dancefloor. As space is limited, you may only perform small dips, and only if you have agreed this beforehand with your partner.
Please do not film or photograph other people without asking them for permission. If you would like to film class material, please ask the teachers if it’s ok to film a recap video after class. A photographer will be taking photos at the party which will be made available after the festival (please see our T&C).
Filming/photography
During class and during social dance, the dance floor can be quite crowded. No matter which role you are dancing: Please pay attention to what is happening around you and try to avoid collisions by stopping or moving out of the way. It also helps to dance ‘small’, i. e. to keep rock steps and kicks below your body and to make small steps. (By the way: In our classes and workshops we talk about this from time to time and do exercises on it.) If something does happen: Please apologise and ask the other person(s) if they’re okay!
bumpign into each other
Mutual Feedback in class
In class sometimes exercises don’t work out perfectly. In most cases, both dance partners are equally responsible for this :) Please don’t assume automatically that the other person is making a mistake. Here’s an example of how you can address such a situation: “I feel like XY doesn’t work out so well. Perhaps it’s my fault? Could we try that again?” Or: “XY doesn’t feel quite comfortable for me. Could we try this again slowly?” Please never correct another person in class without being asked, even if you have been dancing for a long time. Of course, if something is unclear you can ask your teachers. If a move doesn’t feel good, if you feel that your partner is too rough or in similar cases, you can say so at any time.
Please don’t go dancing if you have cold symptoms or other signs of illness! Just remember the etiquette that we have all learned in recent years.
illness
What makes us queerfriendly?
Cologne is considered a particularly tolerant city with a large community that identifies as LGBTQIA+ (= lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual). Because of this, and because a number of our organisers, helpers and artists also identify as LGBTQIA+, we want to take special care to address this community, and create and foster an inclusive atmosphere at BottomsUp!. As part of this, we follow the “Guidelines for Awareness – a guide to mindful events”(link in German) from the Diversity Arts Culture consultation office (part of the Foundation for Cultural Education and Cultural Consulting).
An awareness team will be present throughout the event. Our aim is to make the event as pleasant and safe as possible for everyone. This team consists of people who can be approached and are able to intervene in cases of discrimination, assault and/or sexual harassment. They will always be easily recognisable as members of the awareness team and their presence is also intended to have a preventative effect. We will explain the concept in more detail at the event. Our awareness team can report behaviour that we do not tolerate to the organisers. In such cases, we reserve the right to permanently exclude the person involved from the event. Taking such action is very rarely necessary at most Lindy and jazz scene events, and in the best-case scenario, the team members will have nothing to do at Bottoms Up! because of all guests and participants adhering to our Code of Conduct.
our Team
our dance question
The question ‘Would you like to dance?’ is often still linked to the assumption that the person being asked will dance a certain role assigned to them by their appearance. However, the person being asked may feel offended and/or not dare to say that they would actually prefer to dance another role. That's why we at Bottoms Up! would like to ask our guests not only to ask someone to dance, but also to follow up with the simple question: ‘Lead, follow or switch?’ Lindy Hop in particular offers the opportunity to switch roles during the dance. We would like to make the question of lead, follow or switch easier with small badges and/or stickers and will be selling badges with the dance role (lead / follow / lead & follow / switch) printed on them at our party in the evening. This way, you can pin your favourite dance role to your clothing right away.
As part of our community in Cologne we have the ‘Queer Lindy Cologne’ group, which aims to increase the visibility and empowerment of LGBTQIA+ dancers. Among other things, they regularly organise a ‘Queer Meet Up’ before dance events, where all queer dancers have the chance to meet and chat near the venue shortly before the party. If you are interested, you can find more information in our schedule or contact the association directly - via their website or on Instagram [@queerlindycologne].