Ballroom Dancing Popularity by State

[DanceMentor]

Looking at Google Trends we can get a pretty good feel for how many people are searching for Ballroom Dancing. A surprise to me was Hawaii, the #1 state for searches for ballroom dancing, Clearly the Northeastern US is well represented.

Here is a more comprehensive list (for the last 12 months):

1. Hawaii
2. Massachusetts
3. New Hampshire
4. Rhode Island
5 Washington (state)
6. Utah
7. District of Columbia
8. South Carolina
9. West Virginia
10. Connecticut
11. Maryland
12. Arizona
13. Florida
14. Maine
15. Tennessee
16. Michigan
17. California
18. Oregon
19. New Jersey
20. Delaware
21. Oklahoma
22. Pennsylvania
23. Colorado
24. Wisconsin
25. Virginia
26. Alabama
27. Georgia
28. Nevada
29. South Dakota
30. New Mexico
31. Ohio
32. New York
33. Iowa
34. Kentucky
35. Indiana
36. North Carolina
37. Louisiana
38. Missouri
39. Illinois
40. Vermont
41. Idaho
42. Arkansas
43. Kansas
44. Minnesota
45. Texas
46. Mississippi
47. Nebraska
48. Alaska
49. Montana
50. North Dakota
51. Wyoming

The last 4 were actually not showing any data (probably due to low population and search volume). How is your state doing on the list? I'm in Georgia right now, so pretty low at #27.

 

[Reach]

Looking at Google Trends we can get a pretty good feel for how many people are searching for Ballroom Dancing. A surprise to me was Hawaii, the #1 state for searches for ballroom dancing, Clearly the Northeastern US is well represented.

Here is a more comprehensive list (for the last 12 months):

1. Hawaii
2. Massachusetts
3. New Hampshire
4. Rhode Island
5 Washington (state)
6. Utah
7. District of Columbia
8. South Carolina
9. West Virginia
10. Connecticut
11. Maryland
12. Arizona
13. Florida
14. Maine
15. Tennessee
16. Michigan
17. California
18. Oregon
19. New Jersey
20. Delaware
21. Oklahoma
22. Pennsylvania
23. Colorado
24. Wisconsin
25. Virginia
26. Alabama
27. Georgia
28. Nevada
29. South Dakota
30. New Mexico
31. Ohio
32. New York
33. Iowa
34. Kentucky
35. Indiana
36. North Carolina
37. Louisiana
38. Missouri
39. Illinois
40. Vermont
41. Idaho
42. Arkansas
43. Kansas
44. Minnesota
45. Texas
46. Mississippi
47. Nebraska
48. Alaska
49. Montana
50. North Dakota
51. Wyoming

The last 4 were actually not showing any data (probably due to low population and search volume). How is your state doing on the list? I'm in Georgia right now, so pretty low at #27.

I am in NY, on Long Island. Disappointed that NY is #32. So many competitions nearby. So many socials and dance opportunities listed monthly in The Dance Calendar. So many different styles of dancing available. But, maybe the rest of the state is a dance desert? Very disappointing.

 

[fiesta0618]

I am in NY, on Long Island. Disappointed that NY is #32. So many competitions nearby. So many socials and dance opportunities listed monthly in The Dance Calendar. So many different styles of dancing available. But, maybe the rest of the state is a dance desert? Very disappointing.

Probably not this.

The problem with Google Trends is they are hard to interpret. For one thing, they are measured as a percentage relative to peak popularity, not an absolute number. For another, they are normalized by population. So all we know is that Hawaii had the largest proportion of searches for Ballroom in this time period, not the largest absolute number. Given the massive population of New York, and the huge variety of searches conducted by those folks, it should come as no surprise that the proportion is low. The total number of searches for Ballroom is probably incredibly high...but we don't get to see that data.

In the end, this data tells us nearly nothing about the relative regional popularity of Ballroom. Except for the low-pop states that also have low Ballroom search scores. There, we can be confident that they are indeed Ballroom deserts.

 

[ProgressNotPerfection]

Thread title is extremely misleading about the thread contents. A more accurate thread title might be “Google Trends statistics on number of ballroom-related searches by state.”

My understanding is that Google Trends simply shows how frequently a given search term or topic is entered into Google’s search engine, relative to the site’s total search volume over a given period of time.

And maybe everybody entering ballroom-related search terms is using other search engines, like Bing and DuckDuckGo, instead of Google.

 

[DanceMentor]

Thread title is extremely misleading about the thread contents. A more accurate thread title might be “Google Trends statistics on number of ballroom-related searches by state.”

My understanding is that Google Trends simply shows how frequently a given search term or topic is entered into Google’s search engine, relative to the site’s total search volume over a given period of time.

And maybe everybody entering ballroom-related search terms is using other search engines, like Bing and DuckDuckGo, instead of Google.

Potentially, we could introduce other data points about popularity of ballroom dancing by state. Certainly this is one data point that has some meaning.

I do recall a long time ago when I sold dance shoes for a Showtime, the state that bought more shoes per capita was South Carolina. I was a little bit surprised. It wasn’t just for ballroom dancing, but also because shag was so popular there. And the number of dancers per capita was higher than you might otherwise think.

 

[bia]

I do recall a long time ago when I sold dance shoes for a Showtime, the state that bought more shoes per capita was South Carolina. I was a little bit surprised. It wasn’t just for ballroom dancing, but also because shag was so popular there. And the number of dancers per capita was higher than you might otherwise think.

Yes, interesting data point, but another one that demonstrates the difficulty of interpretation. Yes, you're going to sell more dance shoes to a place with more dancers, but if there are enough dancers, there will be local stores to serve them, and they'll be less likely to order from elsewhere.

 

[ProgressNotPerfection]

Yes, interesting data point, but another one that demonstrates the difficulty of interpretation. Yes, you're going to sell more dance shoes to a place with more dancers, but if there are enough dancers, there will be local stores to serve them, and they'll be less likely to order from elsewhere.

Excellent point. During my first few years dancing, I purchased several pairs of shoes from Showtime because there is nowhere near me where I could buy them in person. (P.S. I live in South Carolina.)

 

[DanceMentor]

Yes, interesting data point, but another one that demonstrates the difficulty of interpretation. Yes, you're going to sell more dance shoes to a place with more dancers, but if there are enough dancers, there will be local stores to serve them, and they'll be less likely to order from elsewhere.

Yes, we were selling wholesale to the stores. And retail to customers by phone order and then Internet more and more in the early 2000s. And yes, just another data point.

 

[Warren J. Dew]

#2. I’d suspect it was just because Massachusetts did more web searches, but California is #17.

A pro I know is independent and works at several studios. Two are a block apart. Once when teaching at one of these, she scheduled the next lesson at the other, I think because the student asked for a different time slot for the next lesson. Student asked if the density of dance studios here was really that high.