Accessibility & Accommodations

Both studios are in Midtown Manhattan, about two minutes apart on level sidewalks with curb cuts. Lighting during competitions and social dancing may include flashing or strobe effects. We will not use fog/haze machines.

Seating is limited. Chairs line the edge of the ballroom and are first come, first served, and neither studio has much other space to rest. If you need a guaranteed seat near the floor, ask us before the event and we hold a labeled chair for you.

During the late-night socials on Friday and Saturday, the Chill Zone is a separate room away from the main dance floor. It’s a place to sit and talk with lower-volume music, not a quiet room.

Whenever we offer snacks, we don’t serve peanut-based foods. We can’t guarantee that either venue is free of allergens, though.

The Crowne Plaza HY36 Midtown Manhattan, our official hotel, has an automatic street-level entrance, elevators to every floor, and mobility-accessible rooms on several floors, some with roll-in showers. Hearing-accessible rooms have visual alarms and knock lights. To make sure you get an accessible room, book your dates through the group link on Hotel & Travel and then call the hotel at +1 646 928 3800 to have one assigned. The hotel’s accessibility page lists the room numbers and features.

The stations closest to the studios all have elevators to the street: 34 St-Penn Station (A, C, E and 1, 2, 3), Times Sq-42 St and 42 St-Port Authority (A, C, E, N, Q, R, W, S, 1, 2, 3, 7), 34 St-Herald Sq (B, D, F, M, N, Q, R, W), and 33 St PATH from New Jersey. Penn Station and Moynihan Train Hall have elevators to every platform. Two cautions: the passage from the 42 St subway to the Port Authority Bus Terminal is step-free but its ramps are steeper than the ADA standard, and the walkway between 33 St PATH and the subway is not accessible, so exit to the street instead. Check the MTA elevator status and the PATH elevator status before you travel, because one outage can close a station’s only step-free route.

AirTrain JFK, AirTrain Newark with NJ Transit into Penn Station, and the Q70 bus from LaGuardia are all wheelchair accessible. Routes from each airport are on Hotel & Travel.

Every Full Weekend Pass holder competes in a Jack & Jill, and dancers with disabilities and injuries compete at NYFF like everyone else. If you need an adjustment during a contest, tell us before the event. We work it out with the Chief Judge and accommodate you to the fullest extent the WSDC rules allow.

Registration runs on our own checkout at flowfest.nyc, built to work with a keyboard and a screen reader. If a screen reader, switch, or other assistive technology stops you from finishing, send us a request through the contact form (Accessibility topic) or email hello@nycswings.net. We reply within two business days, complete the registration with you, and send a secure payment link.

We build flowfest.nyc to WCAG 2.2 Level AA. In place today:

• A skip link to the main content on every page.
• Menus, forms, and buttons that work with a keyboard alone. Esc closes an open menu.
• The current page marked in the navigation for screen readers.
• Text colors that meet the stronger AAA contrast ratio on every background.
• Reduced motion honored: animations stop when your system asks for it.

Two parts of the site come from vendors we don’t control: the checkout payment form (Stripe) and the video player (Bunny). We chose them for their accessibility support. If one of them blocks you, tell us and we find another way.

Our contest videos are dancing and music with no spoken commentary, so they carry no captions. Clips that include the emcee are audible but not captioned. Photos in the Media Archive have alt text and photographer credits, though the alt text is general rather than a description of each photo. If you need a description of a particular video or photo, tell us which one.

Use the contact form and choose the Accessibility topic, or email hello@nycswings.net. Tell us what you need and which days you’re attending. We reply within two business days. The earlier you ask, the more we can do; requests made during the event weekend are handled at check-in as best we can.

What we can arrange

• A held seat near the dance floor.
• Help completing registration, with a payment link.
• Contest adjustments, worked out with the Chief Judge within WSDC rules.
• Answers about either venue before you book.

What we can’t provide

Sign-language interpreters or live captioning, as this is outside our budget given the size of our event.

If something on this page is wrong or missing, or you hit a barrier anywhere on the site or at the event, tell us the same way. Page reviewed September 2026.