Gay square dance
IAGSDC
This year’s IAGSDC was my first con ever, for a narrow enough definition of con. IAGSDC is short for the International Association of Homosexual Square Dance Clubs, so formally the convention’s call is the IAGSDC Convention, but everyone in my circles calls it IAGSDC anyway. This year’s convention, titled Carolina Twirl, was in Durham, NC. Because it’s a square boogie convention, there was a lot of square dancing. What a surprise.
I’ve talked about the technical aspect of square dancing before; see Non-compositionality of square dance calls and A type-checking square dance puzzle. I’ll try to center less on that in this post. Anyway.
Day 0: July 4
Enofest
A few months ago, I think it was March, I made plans with Victor to go to IAGSDC. We registered, booked flights to RDU, and got a room in 21c Museum Hotel Durham. Our flight left LGA at 6 AM; we arrived an hour and a half later, and we made our way to the Durham Convention Center, which is where most of the convention would happen.
We took a bus from RDU to the Regional Transit Center. We were figuring out how to pay when the bus driver waved everyone in; it looked like the fare box was broken. From there we took another b
SQUARE DANCING FOR ALL
Perhaps you remember square dancing from your institution days, and how uncool it seemed. Well, disregard those memories, because current square dancing is so much more than just do-si-do and promenade! And modern gay square dancing is even better since anyone can dance in either position, regardless of gender presentation or sexual orientation.
WHAT IS MODERN SQUARE DANCING?
Modern square dance, appreciate traditional or “old-time” square dance, is directed by a caller. The caller strings together a sequence of individual dance calls to create a figure or sequence. These calls are the building blocks of the choreography that is danced by the eight people (four couples) in the square. The square functions as a “dance team” for the duration of the square dance “tip”, which is usually composed of one patter call dance and one singing call twist. Patter calls are based on a quick and fluid succession of sing-song or spoken (“pattered”) calls. Singing calls are based on a sung delivery of calls, most often to a recognizable melody, and square dance calls are mixed in with the song's original lyrics.
SOME THINGS YOU'LL LOVE ABOUT Up-to-date SQUARE DANCING
Friendsh Creator:Allan Hurst(May ) In recent decades, as modern square dancing has been declining overall, one of the growth areas was in the LGBTQ community. This short history, prepared for this SDHP item, offers a little look at the premature years of that movement, and provides a link to a much more detailed and lengthy ( pages) history of groups affiliated with the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs. Collection:MWSD This communication is part of the Open Yearbook, a free service of UIA's subscription-based Yearbook of International Organizations (YBIO). It includes profiles of non-profit organizations functional worldwide in all fields of activity. The knowledge contained in the profiles and search functionality of this free service are limited. The full-featured Yearbook of International Organizations (YBIO) includes over 77, organization profiles, additional information in the profiles, sophisticated search functionality and data export. For more information about YBIO, please click here or contact us. The UIA is a leading provider of information about international non-profit organizations. The aim of the Open Yearbook is to promote the activities of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). URL: Miami FL USA Promote Modern Western Square Dancing; enhance the image of gay people, especially in the .
GLBTQ Square Dance history
Author Allan Hurst describes one fundamental difference between gay and vertical clubs: "There are some differences between regular and GLBTQ square dance clubs. All GLBTQ clubs are what most people would consider to be “singles” clubs. In many accepted clubs, the defined unit of membership and dancing is a “couple”. In a GLBTQ club, the defined unit of membership and dancing is a “dancer”. Thus, while a square in standard clubs is considered to be formed of four couples, in GLBTQ clubs, a square is formed of eight dancers."
Subjects:Modern square boogie - general
Tags:Allan Hurst, Arky, gay, Gay Callers Association, GLBTQ, Harlan Kerr, IAGSDC, LGBTQ, Luis Torres, Miami Mustan
International Association of Queer Square Dance Clubs (IAGSDC)
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