02/01/2022
Dear Andante/HEX dancers,
It has been my pleasure to work with many of you over the past nine years to build up the Blues and Fusion scenes in Colorado Springs. We’ve been incredibly successful. Regulars and visitors from near and far have had a lot of wonderful things to say when they stopped by to dance. Having said that, things have been more difficult in the last year or two. Due to the challenge of organizing during Covid, and some unexpected personal matters that require my attention, I am unable to make the commitment to run dances this year. I am NOT done organizing, and it would be a thrill to run an Andante/HEX event again when I have the bandwidth to do so and conditions are more favorable, I’m just sitting out for a bit.
I acknowledge and understand that some of us rely on dance for our social circle, and this hiatus may have an outsized impact on those individuals. I want to be clear that while there are a select few events that I cannot and will not support due to safety reasons, I am keen on continuing to build this community and would be thrilled if other dances and dance-related events popped up to fill the void. I am also offering myself as a resource to other folks who want to organize dance events. I encourage everyone to keep dancing whenever it is safe to do so. I would also like to remind everyone that whether the place you dance has a code of conduct or not, whether they take it seriously or not, wherever you dance, you have a right to demand that your boundaries are respected.
I don’t know what future events will look like. Maybe one of you will be running a weekly Fusion scene and I’ll run some quarterly events. Maybe we’ll shatter into HEXagons, little dance pods connected by video chat dancing to a streaming DJ. I do know that when I have the bandwidth again, I would love to be involved.
Most importantly, I would like to thank everyone who has helped with any of our dances over the years. There are too many of you to list. I do want to specifically thank Samantha, Kanit, and Jamie-Lynn for co-organizing with me, Kara for her knowledge of Blues and willingness to share, Chris for giving some memorable and helpful organizer advice, and Kimothy for her bottomless support, assistance, and encouragement. I am also incredibly grateful to all the volunteers that have helped over the years, folks who watched the front door, people who helped clean up, our DJs and teachers who built up these scenes to thrive, and all other important jobs and tasks that helped our scenes be so successful.
At the end of the day, there would be no dance scene without people. Thank you to all who ever came and patronized these events, especially our regulars. So many friendships, relationships, and incredible memories have been created over the years in these dance scenes. It’s been a beautiful thing for me to be a part of as an organizer, and it’s my honor to witness our scenes grow and evolve.
Looking forward to something new! In the meantime take good care of yourselves. I hope to see you around soon. Please feel free to reach out to me at any time.
Best,
Kevin
