Gay Square Dance Conventions

It's true, square dancing has about taken over my life. This last week, Tim and I attended the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs (IAGSDC) 24th Annual Convention in Denver, Colorado. This is my sixth convention, and I'll be attending as many as I can. This year, my sister also attended, for the first time.

Basically, it's non-stop dancing for about four days, then several days of recovery. This year's convention was a little more challenging because of the altitude. But gay square dancers are nothing if not tough! In addition to the dancing, there are specialty tips (women, bears, redwoods, etc.). The most popular specialty tips are the leather and the "moonshine" tips.

I was going to the leather tip, but my sister walked in and was totally unprepared for the spectacle, which is okay - she's a 62 year-old straight grandmother. So we went to the Mainstream Hall and danced for an hour. I usually make it to the moonshine tip, as well. It's a naked tip, but I didn't go this year, because I was meeting a couple of friends for our own moonshine tip.

I've been going to these conventions long enough that I know a lot of people, and they know me. A lot of the fun is the camaraderie. And, well, I like the cute guys, and the cruising is always fun, too. I propositioned one guy, he said, "Yes," so I had to turn him down. Oh, well....

We had some great callers this year. Of course, I'd go just about anywhere to dance to John Marshall. Deborah Carroll-Jones was a big crowd pleaser. Tim Crawford cracked lots of jokes between calls. The Denver club caller, "Bear" also called quite a bit. I was mainly in the Advanced Hall, and had a great time there. Trevor from Gateway Squares livened up a couple of my squares. Also, Bill and Jim made me prance a little better.