It’s January 3rd, 2021 and Los Angeles is in a full lockdown for a 3rd time since March of 2020.
It’s been nine months since COVID-19 was classified as a pandemic and shutdown the world economy. It doesn’t look like 2021 is going to be much different than 2020. Many large festivals will again be postponed or cancelled.
Yes, there will be festivals in certain countries. However, they will limit the size and the number of people in attendance. The vibe and energy will be very different than a typical festival pre-COVID-19.
Yes, there will be countries where social dancing is taking place and people are dancing. However, the vast majority of countries will not be allowing clubs and social dancing anytime soon.
Social dancing is considered high-risk and will be the LAST thing to return.
The Spanish Flu of 1918 lasted about three years. It has only been about nine months since the pandemic started. We still have a long way to go.
While I love dancing, I don’t see the latin-dance scene returning until mid to late 2022. Whether you dance Salsa, Bachata, Kizomba, or Brazilian Zouk - don’t expect large gatherings of 250+ dancers to congregate until then.
YES, there will be socials, parties, festivals, and large gatherings- but we won’t see huge rooms of hundreds of packed dancers. A good indicator of when large dance festivals and congresses will return is using rock/electronic festivals as a barometer. Coachella has been postponed multiple times and will most likely won’t happen in 2021.
Also, dance scenes will be country/state/city specific. You will need to find out where people are dancing. Your local city could become completely shut down, but two hours away in a different city/state, things could be normal.
For example, LA is shutdown completely. Last week was New Years and DJ Zonik threw a party that got shut down immediately by local police. The scene here is dead. Yes, there underground parties, but for the most part, the scene is dead. However, If I wanted to dance, I could drive 5 hours to Phoenix and dance with no problems.
Most of the US is still shut down. However, there are certain cities that aren’t and life is kind of normal. If you want to social dance, you’ll need to find out which cities are open for social dancing.
2021 is going to be an extremely difficult year for the social dance scene, and it will essentially be an extension of 2020. Hopefully the vaccine will be distributed without any hiccups so in 2022 we can all get back on the dance floor!
Stay strong dancers!
