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I have never seen a convention so blogged about.
One interesting bit was the LiveJournal specialty tip. (A "tip", to explain for the non-square-dancers, is a unit of square dance activity about fifteen minutes long -- the thing any other dance activity would call "a dance". In between "tips", usually, are breaks wherein people can gossip or get a snack or visit the restroom.) Here caller Andy Shore is spreading the word about it; here is a group photo; here is the sign-in list. (The photo was done at the beginning and the sign-in at the end, so some people don't show up in both.) More photos here.
It's wonderful to me how strongly I feel at home at a gay square dance convention. Sure, there are ways I'm invisible in that world, but they're not the same ways I'm invisible in the straight male computergeek world, so it's more comfortable if only because there's no spot rubbed raw by the poking of it. This feeling of at-home-ness -- of being among my people -- was magnified immensely in the LiveJournal tip. If there was anything I wanted photos of, from the whole convention, it'd be that group. I still haven't quite figured out why it felt so right. Two subcultures colliding? Perhaps. In any case, I really enjoyed being there.
[Oh, and the other specialty tip people tend to ask about? The no-clothing one? I didn't do that this year. The organizers were thoughtful enough to remind me that the "no watchers" rule simply meant everyone shucks down, not that you absolutely had to dance, so I could go. I was grateful for their thoughtfulness, but as it turned out I was simply too tired to stay awake that late. No nekkid square dancing for me this year.]
One interesting bit was the LiveJournal specialty tip. (A "tip", to explain for the non-square-dancers, is a unit of square dance activity about fifteen minutes long -- the thing any other dance activity would call "a dance". In between "tips", usually, are breaks wherein people can gossip or get a snack or visit the restroom.) Here caller Andy Shore is spreading the word about it; here is a group photo; here is the sign-in list. (The photo was done at the beginning and the sign-in at the end, so some people don't show up in both.) More photos here.
It's wonderful to me how strongly I feel at home at a gay square dance convention. Sure, there are ways I'm invisible in that world, but they're not the same ways I'm invisible in the straight male computergeek world, so it's more comfortable if only because there's no spot rubbed raw by the poking of it. This feeling of at-home-ness -- of being among my people -- was magnified immensely in the LiveJournal tip. If there was anything I wanted photos of, from the whole convention, it'd be that group. I still haven't quite figured out why it felt so right. Two subcultures colliding? Perhaps. In any case, I really enjoyed being there.
[Oh, and the other specialty tip people tend to ask about? The no-clothing one? I didn't do that this year. The organizers were thoughtful enough to remind me that the "no watchers" rule simply meant everyone shucks down, not that you absolutely had to dance, so I could go. I was grateful for their thoughtfulness, but as it turned out I was simply too tired to stay awake that late. No nekkid square dancing for me this year.]
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Cleveland is definitely well within driving distance. :-) You gonna be there? :-)
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If you do any of the above and wear a gay club badge, or "One in a minyan" T-shirts, or flirt heavily with the same sex, you will confuse the natives mightily. (Which is also fine, mwah hah.)
Note, however: gay sd culture is not couples-based. It assumes 8 people per square. Solo dancers are not the liability they are in straight sd culture.
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I don't know yet about Cleveland. I have relatives in the area (Lorain), so that'd be an extra draw.