Gay square dance is square dance

Square dance

Square dance is a folk dance with four couples arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, beginning with Couple 1 facing away from the music and going counter-clockwise until getting to Couple 4. Couples 1 and 3 are known as the head couples, while Couples 2 and 4 are the side couples...

 as it is generally danced in the Gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 and Lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 community. The first gay and lesbian square dance club

Square dance club

Square dance clubs are the primary form for organization within the recreational activity of square dancing, and more specifically modern Western square dance...

s formed in the mid-to-late 1970s in the USA. There are currently about eighty gay square dance clubs worldwide.

Gay square dance is typically open to all square dancers, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, ethnic background, or sexual orientation

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...

. The dancing is generally modern Western square dancing

Modern Western square dance

Modern Western square dance is one of two types of square dancing, along with traditional square dance. As a dance form, modern Western square dance grew out of traditional Western dance...

, as it is practiced throughout the world, standardized by Callerlab

Callerlab

Callerlab is the international association of square dance callers, and is the largest square dance association in the United States. After some initial work started in 1971, it was officially established in 1974 by several members of the Square Dance Hall of Fame.Callers from all over the world,...

, the International Association of Square Dance Callers, and as generally practiced by clubs belonging to the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs (IAGSDC), the umbrella organization for gay square dance clubs.

In addition to gay modern Western square dance clubs, there are gay and lesbian clubs for other dance forms, both square dance and non-square dance forms, including "traditional" and exhibition-style square dancing.

This article focuses on gay modern Western square dancing, and it is understood to be the same as gay square dancing within this article.

Differences from other clubs

The primary differences between gay square dancing and that practiced in other clubs are:

• Costuming: Square dance clubs often have a dress code; gay square dance clubs usually are "casual", that is, no costume or special clothing requirement. Shorts and T-shirts are perfectly acceptable. Clubs sponsoring dances advertise the level of costuming expected at their function.

• Singles more often accepted: Gay square dancing has no partner requirement. In some non-gay square dancing, one is generally expected to arrive at a dance with a partner. At a gay square dance, it is always permissible to get into a square without a partner and hold a hand up if you are looking for one. At non-gay clubs, more people dance with the same partner for the entire evening than at gay clubs where people often dance with a variety of partners throughout a dance.

• One's dance role is less synonymous with one's actual sex: People more often dance the opposite gender's role than in the general western square dance community. This is known in square dance jargon as "all position dancing" (APD) and is common in upper-level challenge square dancing
  Challenge square dance
  Challenge square dance, also known as challenge dancing, is modern Western square dance at the most difficult or challenging levels. There are five dance programs at the challenge level; these are called Basic Challenge , Extended Challenge , Extended Challenge , Challenge 3B and Challenge 4...
  
   as well.

• Styling: Special styling variations (known as flourishes) are particular to gay square dancing (although they may diffuse into the community at large), and there are additional sound effects (dancers' vocal responses to the caller) connected with gay square dancing as well.

• Energy level: The energy level tends to be higher in gay square dancing – tempos may be higher, more flourishes added, longer dances with shorter breaks.

• Dancing with other clubs: Non-gay square dance groups often attend special dances (sometimes known as hoedowns) hosted by other clubs in the area, or visit other clubs at their regular dances (so-called banner raids). Since it is rare to have more than one gay club in an area, clubs will instead host fly-ins, which will attract attendees from outside the region, and last an entire weekend instead of just one night. Both practices serve the same purpose of allowing clubs to have larger dances, but the greater distances traveled and greater length for fly-ins requires more planning and promotion, will usually have more than one caller, and entail greater costs.

• Alcohol: Non-gay square dance groups generally have an absolute ban on alcohol at or near dances. Gay square dance groups do not treat this prohibition as an absolute, and some dance in gay bars. Most will prohibit alcohol at their regular classes and dances, both for liability reasons and to provide an atmosphere distinct from gay bars.

• Age level: Non-gay square dancing tends to attract large numbers of older couples; the average in some clubs will be above 50. Gay square dancing involves many younger people.

It is worth noting that this style of dancing—casual dress, no couple requirement, all-position dancing, high energy level—has been adopted by some newer non-gay square dance clubs (and youth square dance clubs

Youth square dance

Youth square dancing has no precise definition, because youth is a relative term. Very generally, it refers to square dancing among people up to their mid-twenties. In specific contexts, e.g., in qualification for some event, it may refer to dancers up to a particular age such as 18...

 in particular). The continued flourishing of gay square dancing continues to influence the rest of the square dance community.

History of gay square dancing

• 1976 -December Miami Double-R Bar 1st Gay Square Dance
• 1980 – Miami Mustangs club formation (founder: Chris Phillips)
• National Gay Rodeo
• 1982 – Reno, NV
• Feb 1983 – Miami fly-in at Crossfire Bar in Hollywood
• 1984 – Seattle first convention of National Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs
• Name change to reflect Canadian clubs
• First ten years explosion
• Non-North American Clubs: Australia, Japan, Denmark
• March 2008 – Colorado is first state to appoint a gay square dance couple to chair the State's Festival

Organizations

• International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs (IAGSDC)
• Gay Callers Association (GCA)
• Support organizations

External links

• http://www.todayslocalnews.com/?sect=lifestyles&p=1281
• http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E5D71739F937A2575AC0A961958260
• http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/arts/dance/15GOOD.html?ei=5124&en=a0c2c49dea7031a9&ex=1342152000&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&pagewanted=all