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

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.

Presenting Her Royal Highness, Iona Dubblewide, IAGSDC Honky Tonk Queen 2008

Yes, the Gateway Squares' own Aaron Wells, competing as Iona Dubblewide -- ambitious biker babe from the wrong side of the tracks -- is now the 2008 Honky Tonk Queen of the International Association of Gay Square Dancing Clubs.

Wig. Boots. Blow-Up Doll. Half a dozen half-naked, writhing men. All brought together in under eight minutes to the tune of Tammy Winnette's immortal Stand By Your Man.

Congratulations, Aaron! Click on the image below to watch the event in all its glory.

We Love Our Volunteers!

Just a quick post to say ...

... to all the Club members whose help made 2008's Pridefest and Federation Picnic a success!

Below is a short clip showing our Pride Parade dancers & walkers in all their glory!

Graduation Dance 2008! Mark Your Calendar for Saturday May 17!

Lessons are such a big investment of time, talent, and treasure that it's important to make a big splash each time a new class enters the fold. 

To honor the occasion, there's a Gateway Squares tradition (like, three years or something!) of bringing in an out-of-town caller to help usher in a graduating class. 

This year, we've got Andy Shore, who'll be riding his impressive handlebar mustache all the way from South Florida to help ring in the class of 2008! 

So mark your calendars, 'Squares! 

Saturday, May 17th @ Trinity Presbyterian in UCity (map)

Potluck 6:30 ~ Dancing 7:30

The Week After Arch & Dive Thru

It's not easy to believe it's been a week since the last tip of Arch & Dive Thru 2008!

It's also not easy to come up with words to talk about it. A gay fly-in is more than just a bunch of tips strung together into morning-afternoon-evening chunks. 

It's like a family reunion, a convention, a religious revival, a pride festival -- all rolled up and glued together by do-sa-dos.

Cutting Through

Getting any kind of big event off the ground gives everyone plenty of things about which to get cranky. Feelings get thick and strong and difficult to get around. But nothing cuts through all of that like square dancing, does it?

At every fly-in I've been to -- and this was no exception -- there's a m

oment when I sort of wake up and realize where I am. And it hits me with such clarity that I'd start crying if I didn't have to listen for the next call. 

I'm surrounded by friends, people who understand me without having to work at it, who accept me no matter how much I screw up, and people I might not have let myself get close to if I hadn't had the dancing to cut through all my stupid hang-ups.

It's easy to find a word for that. Family. 

Our Big Fat Gay Success Story

From what I've been hearing from the committee members who have had a look at the feedback we got, Arch and Dive Thru 2008 was a big fat gay success story with icing on top -- setting aside our unfortunate brush with grand larceny.

We got especially high marks on our hospitality, and it's hard to make too big a deal of how important that is. The floor time and the callers draw our out-of-town friends, but it's our hospitality and fellowship that will keep them coming back and bringing more dancers with them. 

We owe a big debt of gratitude to the committee members for their huge investment of time, energy, patience, and sheer love-labor. 

Here's looking forward to 2010!