Welcome to Hayward Dance Club


General Information about HDC

For All

  1. What is the Hayward Dance Club all about?
  2. How does membership work?
  3. How much does membership cost?
  4. Do I have to join HDC as a couple?
  5. What is a typical dance like?
  6. What if I can't attend a dance?
  7. What is the HDC personal data privacy policy?
  8. What are the covid requirements for attending a dance?

For Guests

  1. What is being a guest all about?
  2. How do I apply for membership?

For Members

  1. What is the impact from the covid-19 pandemic?
  2. How do I see event calendar and photos?
  3. How do I log in?
  4. What if I need help?
  5. How do I arrange to sit with my friends?
  6. How do I fill out or see results from a club survey?

For All

1. What is the Hayward Dance Club all about?

The Hayward Dance Club (HDC) is a social dance club which has been around since 1938. We are all about "How can we regularly get together with people we know to create some really nice dinner and ballroom dance events with live music?" Our members and invited guests draw from the diverse population of the San Francisco Bay Area.

We hold our dances at the Dublin Senior Center and hire a nice dance band and have a catered dinner four times a year. The venue provides a roughly 2000 square foot permenant dance floor and plenty of room to dance and to sit and socialize. At each dinner dance, club members enjoy excellent food, lively conversations, and dancing to a variety of live music from top bands in the SF Bay Area. Our band selections provide music for a variety of couples oriented ballroom style dancing: typically foxtrot, rumba, cha-cha, east coast swing, tango, samba, waltz, Viennese waltz, night club two-step, and every once in a while a hustle, quick step, bolero, merengue, or salsa.

2. How does membership work?

Membership in HDC is a commitment to pay for four (4) dinner dances per year for two people. We have paid membership to ensure we have enough people at each event to pay for good food, a nice dance venue, and quality live music. Typically, members have some knowledge and skill in several couple oriented ballroom style dances such as foxtrot, rumba, cha-cha, east coast swing, tango, samba, waltz, Viennese waltz, night club two-step and perhaps even hustle, quick step, bolero, merengue, or salsa. One of the nice aspects of the club is that we enjoy not only dancing and socializing, but also inviting and welcoming sponsored guests and meeting new people.

Membership (and dance event attendance as a guest) in the HDC is by invitation only. Guests are always welcome. The Hayward Dance Club welcomes inquiries from prospective members and guests. For more information, please contact us.

3. How much does membership cost?

The current membership cost for the dinner dance is $155 a couple. Members are billed semi-annually for two (2) dances. Currently, members are billed $310 semi-annually

4. Do I have to join HDC as a couple?

Yes. You don't have to be a couple, but single persons must sign up and pay for two seats and attend dances with a dance partner. The club requires that people sign up as a couple to have predictability in both a balanced dancing partner ratio and the financial support of the fixed costs of the dances to ease planning. We currently have two membership options.
  • Member Couple: Both members of a (usually married or long term committed) couple sign up.
  • Member with Partner: A single person can join paying for a membership without necessarily having a consistent partner. There are currently a handful of Member with Partner members and they usually invite former members or other dancers in the east bay dance community. (The author personally finds this to be an impressive and delightful date opportunity much cheaper than a typical holiday dinner dance party with live music.)

5. What is a typical dance like?

We enjoy an elegant evening with a nice dinner, live music for dancing, and lively conversation with existing and new friends. Attendees enjoy an opportunity to don their finest evening attire and strut their stuff. Each quarterly dance has a specific theme determined by our Dance Advisor. The evening starts about 6:00 PM with socializing and getting everyone settled and doing any covid logistics. We enjoy a buffet served dinner at tables of 4 couples and the band begins playing as we wrap up dinner with a wide variety of ballroom dance music until about 10:30 PM. There are announcements during the break to discuss club news and to welcome visitors.

6. What if I can't attend a dance?

Members own their seats for the dances they've paid for. Like any event ticket they have options to:
  1. They can sell them directly to guests of current members. (Informing the Treasurer so we can adjust place setting names and ensure that guests are well taken care of.)
  2. Offer them to the Treasurer for resale. Although there is no guarantee, we typically have good success in reselling tickets on a first come, first serve basis (meaning the longer you wait, the farther back in the line you will be and the lower the probability of someone buying them).

7. What is the HDC personal data privacy policy?

The personal information management policy is delineated on our website at https://haywarddanceclub.com/privacy.php. If you have any questions contact the webmaster at the link at the bottom of any website page.

8. What are the covid requirements for attending a dance?

Each of our dance venues are bound by their county health regulations for vaccination and masking requirements for Covid-19 and its variants. We also tend to be more cautious about the health of our members and guests than some regulations require. These are the most recent requirements for all dance attendees to one of our dances at this time (these can change with little notice).
  1. You must have received both vaccinations and have provided legal proof (scan or digital image aka photo of your vaccination certificate) to the club president.

For Guests

1. What is being a guest all about?

Guests invited by current members are always welcome. Club dance event logistics (meal selection, seating) for guests is arranged by your host member couple. Guest couple cost is $180 per event to be paid within 2 weeks of the event. After attending three (3) events, guests are encouraged to become members. At each event, we will announce the guests and give people an opportunity to welcome you and get to know you. We will work with your hosts and get your name and email and give you the opportunity to receive our newsletter and notifications for future events.

2. How do I apply for membership?

Inform the hosts that sponsored you on one of your guest dance events and they will get in touch with the membership director. Make sure we have your current email and contact data and the membership director will get together and forward you a membership packet explaining all the details. After you submit your membership request you will receive an invoice for the next semester (2 dances) and once it is paid you are a member!

For Members

1. What is the impact from the covid-19 pandemic?

The May 15, 2020 and subsequent 2020 and 2021 dances have been canceled. All remaining membership fees paid for the first half of 2020 were rolled forward and were applied to the dance held February 18, 2022. We have resumed our dance schedule in 2022 and expect them to continue with some additional Covid-19 considerations. We will continue to monitor county, state, and federal guidelines, but it looks like dances will continue for fully vaccinated people into the future.

2. How do I see event calendar and photos?

Once logged in, to look at a list of all dance events including the photos from past events, select Event Calendar from the purple navigation bar and you will see a list of all our events. To see the photos for a specific event, click on the small yellow ball icon in the first column whose column title is Options.

3. How do I log in?

Each member and registered guest with a valid email address on record has been sent an email with their login and temporary password to enable them to log in to the website. If you do not remember getting it or have lost it, you can click on the Login link in the purple navigation bar and near the bottom left of the login screen you will find a button at the bottom left of the page labeled Forgot My Password. Follow the directions and a new password will be emailed to you with instructions on how to login and change it. (Please check your spam or junk folder just in case.)

Note: AOL and Comcast often block automated emails. If you have a ...@aol.com or ...@comcast.net email address, add the following contact to your contact list:

  • Name: HDC Website
  • Email: info@haywarddanceclub.com

If you suspect we do not have your current/correct email (your partner can log in and confirm via the People 411 utility) or you did not get an email, please send an email to the webmaster by clicking on the Webmaster link at the bottom of any web page and we will get your email updated so you can reset your password.

4. What if I need help?

If you get lost on the website or don't know what to do....
  1. Don't Panic.
  2. First, click on the colored logo in the upper left corner of any website page. This will bring you to your "home page" with a concise summary of links to the (few) most likely things you will need to be concerned about.
  3. Most web pages have a (tiny) line at the top of the page with a link to an Overview to give some perspective of what that part of the website does and how to use it.
  4. In any form that has two columns with the field attributes in the left (tan background) column and places to enter information in the right column, each attribute name in the left column is a link to a help function that will provide more information on what that attribute means and reasonable ranges to add for a value for it.
  5. You can fill out the feedback form to provide feedback or to ask specific questions. We will work hard to place answers to your questions that might have broader usage in our frequently asked questions.

5. How do I arrange to sit with my friends?

Starting with the first dance of 2022, everyone is able to select their meal entree and table through the website. Once logged in and registered for a dance event, you can click on the Table link in the purple navigation bar and see where everyone is sitting. Each table that has sufficient room for you and your party (you, your partner, and all invited guests) has a link Move Us Here you can click and you can arrange which table you sit at as you like. If anyone has problems they can click on the Feedback link in the purple navigation bar at the top of any page and fill out the help form or send email to the webmaster via the link at the bottom of each page.

6. How do I fill out or see results from a club survey?

The website survey utility allows members and guests to not only give their input on matters involving the club but also (after the survey is closed) to see the results of past surveys. Once you have logged in, there will be a link labeled Surveys in the purple navigation bar at the top of the page. That will lead you to the survey utility where you can take any currently open surveys or see the results of past surveys. There is more help available at the home page of the Survey utility on how to use it.

Questions, feedback, or website issues; please let us know by filling out the feedback form or emailing Webmaster.
Last Modified: October 03 2023 @ 22:42 PDT