Kizomba Community is once again adding features we think you’ll find helpful. Here’s a quick update on what’s new!
First, we’ve rearranged the menu. Where once finding kizomba events was the main focus of the site, these days we’re more excited about linking you to useful resources, sharing awesome blogs, and connecting you with kizomba communities in various places. The US Events feature is still live, but will be phased out at the end of 2016.
Perhaps most exciting, we’re introducing a huge set of resources covering a broad range of topics related to Etiquette, Safety, and Advocacy. You can learn about common etiquette, how to ask for what you prefer, and how to handle invitations and rejections. You can read about consent and what it means to create safe spaces. You can explore matters of flirtation, romance, sex, and their darker flip sides. You can also dig into questions of sexism, gender identity, and inclusivity.
Some of these resources are light and easily shared. Others handle much more difficult issues. This new feature is meant to help any dancer become more comfortable in the dance scene! But it’s also intended to support those wanting to help make their dance communities safer and more inviting for everyone. There is so much to explore and unpack! Jump around and take a look at the things that you care about.
The other new feature is the Survivor Stories, and it comes with a trigger warning. Many people are unaware of how frequent such things as sexual harassment, coercion, assault, and rape are in our social dancing scenes. Because they are fortunate enough to have never experienced situations that made them feel uncomfortable, endangered, or even violated, they doubt that it ever occurs. There is frequently a tendency to downplay people’s experiences or reframe them as misunderstandings or deliberate falsehoods. In order to combat the passivity that is the current norm, Kizomba Community is hosting this page of anonymous first-person accounts of such stories. We believe more people will be willing to make our social dance scenes safer if they are confronted with the reality of what some are suffering.
That’s everything for now, but there are some exciting new features coming to the site later this month! Don’t forget you can subscribe so that you never miss out on new content.
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