Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect the information you give us directly:

• Account information (name, email address, password)
• Profile information (dance styles, experience level, location)
• Profile photos and videos, and any photos or videos you upload for events or lessons
• Messages and other communications sent through the platform
• Trial-lesson payment details, handled directly by our payment provider, Stripe — we never store your full card details
• Technical information recorded automatically to keep accounts secure and the service working: your IP address and browser or device type when you sign in, register a device for push notifications or send a report; sign-in activity; and server and error logs
• When you book a trial lesson: whether the student is under 18 and, if so, the name of the parent or guardian who will come with them, so that an adult is present at the first lesson — we collect nothing else about the child

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Provide and run the service, including the booking calendar
• Connect you with other dancers, teachers, schools and venues
• Take trial-lesson payments through our payment provider
• Send you notifications and updates about your bookings, lessons and events
• Understand how the platform is used and improve it (analytics, only with your consent)
• Keep users safe, handle reports and prevent abuse and fraud

3. Our Lawful Bases

UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) requires a lawful basis for each use of your personal data. Ours are:

• Contract (Article 6(1)(b)) — to create and run your account, arrange bookings and lessons, and take the trial-lesson fee
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) — to keep the platform safe, prevent abuse and fraud, and improve the service
• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)) — for analytics cookies and optional communications; you can withdraw it at any time, without affecting anything done before
• Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)) — where the law requires us to keep or disclose records
• If you choose to mention health information — an injury or a physical limitation, for example — in a message or a booking note, we use it only to help arrange your lessons, and you can ask us to remove it at any time

4. Who We Share It With

We do not sell or rent your personal information — including your photos and videos — or share it with anyone for their own marketing. We only share it in these cases:

• Information you choose to make public on your profile, which other users can see
• Service providers who process data for us under contract, only to run the platform: Google (Google Analytics), SMTP2GO (transactional email) and Stripe (trial-lesson payments)
• Where the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of our users or of DanceLink
• With your explicit consent

5. Keeping Your Data Secure

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or loss, including:

• Encrypted connections (HTTPS)
• Passwords stored only in hashed and salted form
• Security updates for the platform and the software it relies on
• Access to personal data limited to authorised people

6. Messages and Moderation

Messages you send on DanceLink are stored on our servers so that you and the person you are writing to can read them. They are not end-to-end encrypted, so the operator of the platform is technically able to read them. In practice:

• We do not read private messages as a matter of routine
• We look at message content only for a specific reason: a report of abuse, harassment or illegal content, an investigation into fraud or a risk to someone’s safety, a technical fault, or a legally binding request from an authority
• Messages stay available to you and the other person until you delete them or until one of the accounts is deleted
• You can block another user at any time to stop them contacting you
• If someone is harassing you, use the “Report” link in the footer of any page or email [email protected] — we read every report
• Please do not use messages to share sensitive information that you would not want stored on our servers

7. Your Rights

Under UK data protection law you have the rights below. You can use the first two yourself from Settings → Account & Security; for anything else, email [email protected]. We reply within one month, free of charge.

• Access — ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Erasure — ask us to delete your account and the data linked to it, including photos and videos
• Rectification — have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected
• Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your data while a concern is being resolved
• Objection — object to uses based on our legitimate interests
• Portability — receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format
• Withdraw consent — for analytics or optional communications, at any time
• Choose who can see your profile information and turn off non-essential emails in your notification settings
• Complain — to us first (see section 12), and, if you are not satisfied, to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113)

8. Cookies and Analytics

We use essential cookies that the site needs in order to work; these are always on. We also use Google Analytics to understand how the platform is used, but only if you accept it: Analytics does not load at all until you choose “Accept” in the cookie banner. You can change your choice at any time with the “Cookies” link in the footer of every page, and you can also control cookies in your browser. We do not use advertising cookies and we do not sell data to advertisers.

9. How Long We Keep It

We keep your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the service. In particular:

• Account, profile, photos and videos — kept while your account is active and deleted within one month of a deletion request
• Messages — kept while the accounts involved are active, and deleted with the account
• Booking and lesson records — kept while your account is active and for up to 12 months afterwards, so that any dispute can be resolved
• Trial-lesson payment records — kept for as long as the tax law that applies to us requires
• Server and security logs — kept for a short period and then deleted

10. Children

You must be at least 13 years old to use DanceLink, the age at which you can consent to online services under UK data protection law. If you are under 18 you need the permission of a parent or guardian, and we collect only what is needed to run your account. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and if we learn that we have, we delete it promptly. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, contact us at [email protected].

11. Where Your Data Is Processed

DanceLink is based in Greece, in the European Economic Area, which the UK recognises as giving personal data adequate protection. Some of our service providers process data in other countries, such as the United States; where they do, the transfer is protected by the UK–US data bridge or by the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

12. Contact and Complaints

For any question about this policy or your personal information, contact us at [email protected]. DanceLink is not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer, so requests are handled directly by the data controller named at the top of this page. If you want to complain about how we use your personal information, write to us at the same address: we acknowledge complaints within 30 days and reply without undue delay. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113).

13. Deleting Your Account

You can ask for your DanceLink account to be deleted, whether you use the website or the DanceLink app, in either of the ways below. Your account, profile, photos, videos and messages are deleted within one month of the request, and the deletion cannot be undone. Some booking and payment records are kept for the periods set out in section 9.

• From your account: log in and go to Settings → Account & Security → Delete account
• Without logging in: email [email protected] from your account's email address, with the subject "Delete account"