Gay square dance is square dance as it is generally danced in the Gay and Lesbian community. The first gay and lesbian square dance clubs 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. The dancing is generally modern Western square dancing, as it is practiced throughout the world, standardized by Callerlab, 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.
Read more about Gay Square Dance: Differences From Other Clubs, History of Gay Square Dancing, Organizations
Famous quotes containing the words square dance, gay, square and/or dance:
“The square dance fiddler’s first concern is to carry a tune, but he must carry it loud enough to be heard over the noise of stamping feet, the cries of the “caller,” and the shouts of the dancers. When he fiddles, he “fiddles all over”; feet, hands, knees, head, and eyes are all busy.”
—State of Oklahoma, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise shall give him no peace.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled to, and less than that no man shall have.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)
“We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life. This is the function of the American dance.”
—Martha Graham (1894–1991)