Tuesday, October 21, 2008

BOO! Halloween Dance Sat 10/25


It's the annual tradition! Costumes! Food! Out-of-Town Caller!
Potluck dinner at 6:30, dancing at 7:30 at Trinity Prez, 6800 Washington Ave in UCity!

This year's returning caller (kinda like getting two for the price of one):
Howard Richman, aka Lady DiaMel

Hope to See Lots of SCAAARY Squares!


Friday, October 3, 2008

Gateway Squares in the Nooz! Fri Oct 3

Check out today's Post-Dispatch (Metro Section) for an article all about us!

Here's a direct link to the online version, or the full address, and here's the multimedia companion piece, narrated by our very own Brian V.

Interested readers are just in time to get on board the new lessons train, Monday, October 6th, from 7 to 9 pm at Heman Park Community Center in UCity.

Go 'Squares!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

2008 Beginners Lessons! Mondays @ 7pm

The Time is Now!

Beginners' lessons start
on Monday, October 6th, at Heman Park Community Center in UCity, 975 Pennsylvania Avenue, from 7 to 9 pm!

Here are directions!

Everyone is invited to either or both of these free lessons -- get to know us and try out a few steps!



Square Dancing?! You've Got to Be Joking!

The Gateway Squares are a diverse bunch. We have as many women and men, as white-collar and blue-collar ... people who flocked to square dancing and people who got dragged into it kicking and screaming.

I was definitely in the second group. It took a team of no fewer than five people -- Brian, Trevor, Curtis, Mike, and Bill -- to wear me down. And it took them months. Square dancing?? Please! Even after the first lesson, I only agreed grudgingly to the second.

But then everything changed. I had a chance at a recent demonstration we did to talk about how, and a couple of people asked me to post the story.

Here it is, with the hope that it inspires you to give us a try -- and bring friends!

How I Got Dragged Into Square Dancing ... and Stayed

I went to my first square dancing lesson mostly to get my husband, Brian, off my case. And it started out awful. Truly awful. I couldn't keep my left and my right straight, couldn't make the leap between what I was seeing and what I was doing.

But then, during a break, I took in the other people in the room, students and established dancers alike. There were as many women as men, as many younger people as older people. There were doctors and carpenters, teachers and electricians, social workers and corporate lawyers.

In short, a lot of people had jumped over a lot of walls to be there that evening. Community outreach workers and political organizers toil for months just to convene groups half as diverse.

Deer Frozen in Headlights

Besides being gay, the only common thing we started out with was a commitment to learn something that might turn out to be fun. And after the first lesson, we added to that a set of humbling experiences. Holding hands with strangers. Going right when the caller clearly said left. Taking one wrong step that gummed up the graceful moves of seven other people.

If our class had been a Native American tribe, my name would have been "Deer Frozen in Headlights." But over the next few weeks, I started getting the moves in spite of myself. It took me a while to figure out why, and when I did, I realized that of course, it was so simple.

All I had to do was let go.

This was staggering! Imagine living most of your life as a self-styled thinker and then suddenly, accidentally stumbling across something that works better the less you think about it.

Learning to Dance ... and to Let Go

Change happens when people let go of fear. Change happens when people come together who would otherwise never find their way to each other. Change happens when people turn their minds to what is in front of them, not behind them.

This is what the Gateway Squares make happen every time we dance, but most of the time, we’re having too much fun to realize it.

You see, square dancing is organized around local clubs that are supposed to meet up regularly and dance with each other. These clubs have a few simple rules. (1) You never turn anyone away from a square, no matter how much you might want to, and (2) you never leave a square until the dance is over and you have traded handshakes and thank-you’s with everyone in it.

The St. Louis area is home to a few dozen square dancing clubs – of the non-gay variety, to be clear – that are mostly in the suburbs and outer suburbs. Many have been in existence since the 1940’s or 50’s, and as the average age of their members has increased year after year, clubs have started folding. The people who remain are by and large over sixty and by and large not accustomed to change.

When the Gateway Squares started dancing in late 2003, they were the first new square dancing club in over three decades. The question was, would this gay club join the larger community or keep safely to themselves? If they tried to join the community, would they be accepted or thrown out on their ears?

The founding members of the club decided to give it a try, which in the context of that season was an act of great courage. Even the most ultra-out among them, as comfortable in their own skins as anyone could be, arrived at their first dance with butterflies in their stomachs and not the slightest idea of what would happen.

What happened is that everyone put the dancing first and left the politics for later. They put their one shared truth first and momentarily overlooked their differences. The gay people put their courage just inches ahead of their fear of rejection, and the straight people put their faith in community just inches ahead their own visible discomfort. Two worlds collided ... and then the dancing started.

For almost four years now, the Gateway Squares have squared up with people who have been dancing in the same clubs for two, three, sometimes four or five decades. We have danced with clubs whose by-laws state that women must wear frilly dresses of a certain length, whose members are pillars of their communities and have lived up to every expectation of a culture consumed with fear about gender and sexuality.

And then we show up.

We trample across the gender divide, laughing every step of the way, but just to be helpful about it, we put on tags that read "I DANCE THE GIRL’S PART" or "I DANCE THE MAN’S PART."



At the beginning of each evening, the two groups, gay and straight, usually stand at opposite ends of the room, eyeing each other warily and trying to act casual at the same time. Then the dancing starts, and there's not enough time for people to judge each other.

At a dance in Florissant, one of our number found herself standing alone as a dance was about to get started. A leader of the hosting club, her back hunched with sheer age, walked up to her, squinted at her name tag, and said, "Oh, you're one of the gay ones! Here, go dance with my husband."

Another member of our club, a big, burly, bearded man who happened to be dancing the girl’s part one night found himself alone in a square filled with straight people. The big, burly, bearded man who wound up standing to his left regarded him, looked him up and down and said, "I sure hope you like getting twirled!"

These stories have left many of us flummoxed. Our fear of rejection at the hands of the straight world has been dealt a serious blow. People we half-thought would throw us out of their dances have shaken our hands and thanked us for our presence. Some have even been stronger advocates for us that we might have been for ourselves.

We’ve been left to wonder, how many of the walls that separate us from the straight world are of our own making? If our identities are built around early memories of rejection and differentness, who would we be if those things fell away?

Now, I don’t want to leave you thinking that all is sweetness and light. On both sides, our community dances see as much squirming and shuffling, as many false starts and looks of blank incomprehension as we have moments of light and understanding.

Building Bridges ...

A few years ago, the Gateway Squares decided that no matter how well we get along with the straights, a lot of us just don’t feel at ease enough to let our hair down the way we need to. We like to put a lot of flair and athleticism into our moves, which does not always sit well with the sensibilities and arthritic joints of the clubs we dance with. So in addition to the dances we have with other clubs, we also have a monthly members-only dance.

Maybe this is a retreat from the idea of bridge building.

Maybe it’s an acknowledgment that from time to time, even bridge builders need to be with people who understand them without having to try.

Here’s what is certain. Here’s what we know. For those of us who crossed the line we thought could not be crossed, nothing looks the same. Even if we go back inside our walls for a time, we know the world outside them better than we did before. And it knows us better.

And it all started with small acts of letting go.



Monday, August 18, 2008

Hello September! Community Dance, Club Dance, Last Summer Workshop, Start of Lessons!


September is almost upon us! Lots of big happenings gearing up.

Tuesday Sept 2
Gateway Squares Community Dance with Caller Bo Semith, 7:30 at Heman

Monday Sept 8:
Last of Aaron's summer workshops at Immanuel Congregational UCC on Jamieson

Tuesday Sept 9:
Start of Advanced lessons with Aaron, 7:15pm at the Olivette Community Center, 9723 Grandview.
Are you ready for Advanced? You are if you've angeled at lessons for at least one September-May season, dancing the role you learned when you went through lessons yourself, and are proficient in that role.

Sunday, 9/21:
Monthly Club Dance at 4:00pm at Immanuel UCC on Jamieson

Monday, 9/22:
All Angels On Deck! Start of 2008-2009 Basic/Mainstream/Plus Lessons!

About a week ago, an ad for September lessons went into the print version of The Vital Voice. An oversight by a Publicity team member (who shall remain nameless) led to lastyear's ad being run. As a result, there may be some totally bogus September dates floating out there. Please rest assured – and assure anyone who asks – that there are only two Mondays in September for intro lessons, 9/22 and 9/29.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Intro to Advanced! Monday Aug 11 @ 7 PM

You've mastered Spin Chain the Gears. Relay the Ducey doesn't give you the cold sweats anymore ... You were seen yawning during a Coordinate!

Are you ready to take square dancing to the next level?

INTRODUCTORY ADVANCED LESSON!

Monday, August 11 @ 7pm, Immanuel Congregational UCC @ Jamieson

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Advanced Square Dancing but Were Afraid to Ask

This is your chance to sample a few moves from the Advanced book, with our own Aaron Wells as your plucky tour guide.

But how do I know I'm ready?

You're ready to try Advanced lessons if you've angeled at lessons for at least one September-May season, dancing the role you learned when you went through lessons yourself, and are proficient in that role.

You can even see the moves acted out by happy little geometric shapes! Just click here...

Or you could watch these people, courtesy of YouTube, who probably never dreamed they'd become ambassadors of Advanced to some gay club thousands of miles away...



Questions? Concerns? Ask any of our Advanced dancers! Rob, Doug S, Tom M, Trevor, Curtis, Martha, Sandra, Ruud, Doug T, Aaron, Mike S, Cindy, Elsbeth

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Monday Workshopping! Grease Up Your Mainstream/Plus!

Does Spin Chain the Gears drive you to tears? Or is it called Spin Chain Exchange the ... well, whatever Mainstream/Plus move it is, Mondays are you chance to polish up this Summer!


Monday Workshops
7:00 to 9:00 pm

UPDATE!
Because of Immanuel's air conditioning difficulties with Immanuel on Jamieson, the venue for Monday, July 28 is now...

Trinity Episcopal @ 600 North Euclid Ave in the CWE.
1 block south of Delmar. Use the parking lot off Euclid Avenue!
<-- With you-know-who...

Sat July 19 @ 7:30! The 2nd Annual Hawaiian Luau Dance

July 19, 2008, Saturday, Second Annual Hawaiian Luau Joint Dance Presented by Gateway Squares And Singles & Doubles

Caller: Kevin Oneslager from Lawrence, Kansas, frequent caller for our sister club in KC, the Show-Me Squares. Cuers: The Tevlins, 7:30 PM

Webster Groves Christian Church, 1320 Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves, Missouri,

*Apologies to any and all Hawaiians. Any resemblance between individuals depicted here and any actual square dancers, living or dead, is purely coincidental.