PCX2023 theme – THIS or THAT
It’s been a bit of a longstanding PCX “thing” to have a fun theme associated with each event. This year’s themes are part of an elaborate (and hopefully fun) contest. Each event theme will have a “THIS or THAT” option – depending what you choose for each event you will be assigned to a particular team for a fun challenge (different levels of participation allowed for!). If your team wins the challenge, you get points – we will keep track of these over the weekend and there will be a grand PCX champion at the end, who will probably win honour and glory and maybe an underwhelming bar of chocolate or something.
Now we know from previous PCX experience that the themes can be a lot of fun, and some people love costumes and will go all out with creative, clever or cool costumes. If this isn’t you, and your more of a jeans and tshirt person or just can’t be bothered, don’t worry! Costumes are definitely NOT compulsory. We have tried to give some low effort suggestions for each theme too, and if that’s still too much, just come in whatever you want and pick a team at the door anyway and admire those who have made an effort!
The programme
Details of all the events (times, locations, music, theme, cost, etc.) can be found via links from the main PCX page.
To help with planning your event, a quick summary of the venues throughout the city can be found on this handy map (click on it to zoom in) – along with a couple of hostels that visiting dancers have often stayed at for past events, and a location of the central bus exchange (but read on for more about accommodation and transport).
Visiting dancers
For dancers visiting from out of town and looking to find a handy location for accommodation – the Friday night and Saturday events are all relatively central in the city, while most of the Sunday events are to the east along the coast, approximately 15 minutes drive. Christchurch has pretty great public transport during the day, and… pretty useless late in the evenings. We do however have uber/lyft/taxi options, and if you’re looking for a rideshare between events let the people on the desk know and we can make an announcement to see if any locals can help out.
– Hosting/being hosted
It’s a bit of a swing dancing exchange tradition to offer up couches or beds for visiting dancers to sleep on – it helps you make new friends, keeps costs down for visitors and can make both the host and hostee’s weekend even more fun. If you’re a local who might have a spare room, bed, or couch to offer we would love it if you could indicate this on the registration form. Note that there is no expectation that hosts provide food, bedlinen, or transport although of course you are welcome to come to an arrangement with your hostee.
For our visitors – if you would like us to try find you someone to stay with, let us know. Please note that we may be unable to find a place for everyone who asks, and will prioritise early registrations and those coming from further afield. We will try to let you know by the first week in March if we can accommodate you so you can make alternative arrangements if needs be. If you need to know sooner than this please get in touch at swingtownevents@gmail.com.
Volunteering
PCX is run entirely by enthusiastic volunteers, and one thing that has always been a real feature of the event is the relaxed and friendly atmosphere where lots of people pitch in to help when they see it is needed. If you’re happy to make this a bit more official, you can tick the box on the registration form to sign up for a short volunteering shift or two. With people helping out with setup/packdown/welcoming people at the door for events, it means that our committee gets to enjoy the weekend too and not get run completely frazzled. The more people who sign up for this the less anyone has to do, and if you sign up, we will appreciate you forever!
T-shirts and hoodies!
Due to popular demand, we are doing a run of printed tshirts and hoodies again for PCX. These can be your choice – either the PCX2023 logo, or the usual Swingtown Rebels logo, printed large on the front of the garment. There are a range of sizes, colours and styles available – check out the details on the tshirts page before you go over to the registration page and order on the rego form. Note – you can order even if you won’t be attending PCX. Orders will be available at the end of March for collection.
PCX Jammers
The longstanding PCX tradition of a dancers band called the PCX Jammers (oft cited as the highlight of PCX for many attendees) is going to look a little different this year. Check out the details on the page for the Saturday morning event and, if you are a music-playing swing stepping cool cat who is keen to be involved, then let us know on the registration form so we can keep you in the loop for song/key/instrument/tune/other important musical things discussion prior to the event so we can hit the ground running on the day. The main tradition is you have to be a dancer to play – so if you have any musician buddies who want to join in then quick get them down to a social dance in January or February first! Oh and it is all just a bit of fun so don’t worry if you are new or rusty to your instrument, come give it a go!
The PCX2023 Committee
This year’s PCX is brought to you by the following Swingtown Rebels:
Alicia Moggre
Nathan Allpress
Angela Brett
Liz Horton
Cheron Verster,
Richard Lowries
Lucy Duffus
If you need info or help during the weekend, get someone to point you in one of our direction or flick us an email at swingtownevents@gmail.com. If we can’t help, we can find you someone who can!
Keeping everyone happy and healthy
By signing up for our event, you are agreeing to follow our community guidelines. In particular, in these Covid days, we are asking you to be particularly considerate if you are feeling unwell, or have been a household contact of somebody sick, please stay home, and get in touch with us for a refund (details of our cancellation and refunds policy can be found on the registration page). Wearing of facemasks is not going to be required, but please don’t let that stop you if you are more comfortable doing so! We encourage all attendees to consider carrying a mask with you and offering to wear it if you are going to dance with a mask-wearer who would be more comfortable with this.
Additionally, we would like to request that everyone attending to consider doing a Covid RAT test the first day of the event to provide some added reassurance. We will not be checking this, but it is the kind and considerate thing to do so we would really appreciate it if people could do this.
For any other health, safety or wellbeing concerns for yourself or others during the event, please come and talk to someone on the committee. For injuries or other medical attention we will have a small first aid kit on hand for very minor ailments such as blisters, but will also be able to help with directing you to after hours medical clinics, pharmacies, etc., if any more serious mishaps occur. Additionally, if you just need someone to check in with you about your well-being occasionally please do let one of us know! Any concerns or issues brought to us will be kept confidential and dealt with sensitively.
Photography
You’re more than welcome to take photos at any of the events, but just make sure that if anyone asks you not to include them, or to take down any particular photo you may have shared, please respect their wishes!
That’s all from us! If you have any more questions about PCX2023, drop us a line at swingtownevents@gmail.com! We are super excited about dancing with you all soon!!
