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! 

Arch & Dive Thru 2008: The Event of the Century Is Just Weeks Away

T Minus 22 Days and Counting!

Can you believe the Fly-In is almost upon us? Three weeks from tomorrow!

I remember Arch & Dive Thru 2006 as breakthrough of a kind, where I realized that square dancing was not just a leisure activity but a brush with grace. Magical, in a word.

This time, we're only about the most famous club in the universe, so we're three weeks and one day away from something pretty extraordinary...

With our dozens of fun-loving out-of-towners come lots of volunteer opportunities.

Food is first among them! We're throwing a potluck dinner for about, oh, 100 hungry people on Saturday, March 29th.

What We Need:

• Salads
• Casseroles
• Vegetarian Casseroles
• Desserts
• Vegetables

E-mail or call Cheryl to put your yummy dish on the menu!

The Schedule

Here's a version of our schedule, suitable for insertion into front pockets, back pockets, and bra cups:

Download here or view below:

In Loving Memory

We'll miss you, Colleen...

Memorials can be sent to:
St. Cronan Food Pantry or NaNa's house
PO Box 18656
St. Louis MO 63118

2008 Sweetheart Dance | Sunday, Feb 10, 2-5 pm!

One of the larger St. Louis square dancing community's traditions is the annual Sweetheart Dance, now in its 38th year.

Here's the official page!

And here's the location, Sperreng Middle School at 1211 Tesson Ferry Road.

The Sweetheart Dance has become kind of a rite of passage for the Gateway Squares. It's the first big community dance a lot of us go to as students fresh out of Mainstream.

I remember the Sweetheart Dance as one of the first moments when I felt the CLICK, when I started to say to myself, Yeah. I think I'm getting this.

It was a first encounter with 'the straights,' and as I was dancing the girl's part, I bet it was the first time a lot of the men there had grabbed a gay guy around the waist.

Like a lot of students, I half-thought that the business of going out into the community was a little improbable, bound to end in awkward moments. There's always a little of that, but then the magic of dancing takes over, and most of us end up having too much fun to remember the hang-ups and stereotypes we bring with us.

So let's meet up at the 2008 Sweetheart Dance! Sunday, February 10, from 2 to 5 pm.


Michael