Spaces to Dance
An ODF inventory of spaces fit to dance in in Oxford; all gathered into one browsable database!
Please note: ODF does not handle bookings. To book, contact the venues directly.
The star rating of a space shows its degree of compliance with the Fit to Dance Space charter. This charter sets the dance industry minimum standard for dance spaces. It was developped by OneDanceUK and Equity.
Maximum compliance with the minimum standard of the charter gets 5 stars. So that, ideally, all dance spaces should be rated 4 or 5 stars, be affordable, and easily available for booking.
Curious about how we calculated the star ratings? Scroll down to find out.
Please note: “Spaces” are rooms. Rooms are located in “venues”. “Venues” are physical buildings. Some “venues” have more than one “space”!
Space missing from this inventory? Errors needing correcting? Please feel free to get in touch!
To browse by locations of venues on a map, consult the “Extensions” section of our database.
How we calculated the “Fit to Dance in” star rating:
Every space starts at 5 stars, then:
- dock 2 stars for a non-sprung floor /OR/ dock 1 star for a semi-sprung floor
- dock 1 star if the space is smaller than 75 m2
- dock 1 star for no access to control over heating and ventilation
- dock 1 star for presence of obstruction (e.g., a pillar in the middle of the room)
- dock 1 star for no barres and no mirrors
How we structured the database:
In 2019, a questionnaire was designed and data collected to understand what the dance community required of a dance space (see here). These requirements gave us the fields of the database. For each field, at least one member of the dance community requested the info.
Oxford City Council partly funded this inventory project through Culture Fund money awarded to ODF for this specific purpose.
