WE'RE HAPPY YOU'RE HERE.

We Resume dancing June 26, 2025! 🎉

Portland Intown Contra Dance enriches lives and cultivates a vibrant community through dance.

Our series is delightful, welcoming to all humans, and a heck of a lot of fun. We gather every Thursday night for zesty, joyful dancing on the peninsula in Portland, Maine, host special events, and find ways to enjoy each other's company when we're not on the floor. We're teaching and practicing traditions, contributing to an evolving art form, and welcoming new dancers to our community every week. 

We dance with partners and with everybody in the room. It doesn't matter what gender you are — you can boogie in both dance roles!

Come alone or bring a friend!

Dance every [Thursday] night.

(And sometimes other nights of the week, too.)

The Basics.

Our dances are hosted intown Portland, Maine at

State Street Church
159 State Street

When you arrive, follow the signs and enter through the courtyard.

Timing

Thursday dances start with a brief orientation for beginners at 7PM. Dancing continues from 7:30-10PM.  

We also host occasional dances on other nights of the week that start and end at different times. See the event details for more information.

Cost

Thursday night dances are $15. If you give less, you won’t be turned away. If you give more, we’ll give you a high-five.

We accept: Cash, checks (made out to PICD), debit cards, credit cards, Venmo, PayPal, and Cashapp.

If you have a PICD Gift Card that was issued before the pandemic, use it! Consider it a token for a night of dancing.

We also occasionally host events other nights of the week with different admission fees, including free events. See the event details for more information.

PARKING

Parking is available on-street in the West End neighborhood. Simply driving around will yield a spot. In Portland, metered parking on Thursdays after 6PM is free!

There are a few driveways in the immediate vicinity, but none of them are available to dancers.

Additionally, there are several local municipal lots available with free public parking after 5PM on week nights. You can find them here:

SPRING STREET LOT
98 High Street (Corner of Spring Street)

FRESH APPROACH MARKET
155 Brackett Street

REICHE SCHOOL
166 Brackett Street

REICHE POOL & COMMUNITY CENTER (Back of School)
Clark Street

 

ACCESSIBILITY

There are two on-street handicap parking spaces directly in front of the church on State Street.  

After you go through the courtyard and front door, which is on the right, there is a short stairway prior to entering the dance hall, for a total of about 10 steps. The dance hall is on the first floor.

To access the elevator for entry, you’ll use the door on the left of the building as you enter the courtyard. The person at the Greeter Table can open it for you if it is locked.

Bathrooms

There are two bathrooms that the church makes available for dancers.  One has multiple toilet stalls and the other is for one user at a time. Both bathrooms are open to all genders.

KEEP IN MIND

VOLUNTEERS: We love volunteers! In exchange for volunteering, we offer free admission. If you want to help out at a dance, get in touch!

SCENT:  If you normally enjoy wearing perfume or cologne, please avoid it when dancing; some of our dancers are physically sensitive to potent scents.

INTOXICATION:  Consuming alcohol or other intoxicating substances at our events isn’t cool — contra dance involves spinning around in circles a lot, so it's just a bad idea to dance tipsy or high. If we notice you’re under the influence, one of our organizers may ask you to leave and come back sober next time.

PHOTOGRAPHY:  Because these are public events, dancers and organizers from time to time take photos and videos at our contra dances and post them online (see example from Robyn Nicole Film & Photo or Youtube). You'll probably get a sweet profile pic out of it! However, if it is important to you to be left out of photographs and videos, please let an organizer know so we can pass the word to folks who are likely to be documenting the fun.

JERKS: Come to Portland Intown Contra Dance ready to be awesome and respectful to everyone. If someone complains to an organizer that someone else is being a jerk, one of our organizers will talk to that person about it. We reserve the right to ban jerks from our dance for being jerks. See more info about consent at PICD events.

THANKS FOR CREATING
THIS BEAUTIFUL COMMUNITY WITH US!

 DanCE Everywhere!

Host Your Own Contra!

We can also help you host a contra dance for your event or organization. Contra dancing is a great way to bring people together at a community event and we’d love to bring the joy to your people where they are. Just get in touch with us about it!

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