Contra Weekend Heatmap

August 1st, 2014
contra, tech
I made another heatmap: dance weekends. I took the data from the weekend and festival survey I ran a few months ago, went over it again to pull down a few more band names that have been posted in the interim, and collected locations while I was at it. Then I put them all on a map:


(interactive zoomable version)

Looking at this, there's a giant red blob in the Northeast, but in 2012 I wrote:

Dance weekends are not a major part of contra dance culture in the northeast, but seem to be much more central elsewhere.
What's going on?

Some of it is that the Northeast weekends/festivals aren't branded as "dance weekends": Pinewoods, the Flurry, the Snowball, the Dawn Dance, DEFFA. Some of it is that the weekends that do exist aren't put on by the local dances in a 1-1 relationship: in much of the country the area dance organization runs a weekly/monthly dance and organizes a yearly weekend, but in the Northeast they tend to be separately organized. What else? Or is my impression about the significance of weekend culture just wrong?

Referenced in:

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Three cheers for the tomboy chaser

Three cheers for the tomboy chaser!

via Thing of Things January 30, 2026

2025-26 New Year review

This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Highlights include a minimal group house, the usefulness…

via Victoria Krakovna January 19, 2026

Why I Don't Think My Braces Were Worth It

A couple weeks ago, I got my braces off. I kind of wish I had never had them, though. When I was younger, two of my teeth were sticking out, and they looked kind of funny. I thought that my teeth were just fine, and I didn't want to get braces. But s…

via Anna Wise's Blog Posts January 3, 2026

more     (via openring)