Square dancing is music and movement… friendship and fun… traveling to new places and meeting people. For me, it’s all about CONNECTING with others, on and off the dance floor. I love those hugs at the end of a dance tip!

In the late summer of 1997 I went to the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco. My long-term (18 years) relationship was ending, and I was looking for an activity that would involve meeting other gay men. I didn’t identify with organized sports groups or political or fetish clubs. Then I saw some men twirling each other and dancing to a caller, who was singing to music and giving directions. There was a lot of whooping and hollering and laughing. This was a gay square dance club, Western Star Dancers, and they were starting a new class at Eureka Valley Recreation Center in the Castro. Perfect, I thought!

I’ve always loved dancing. In the early 1980s I was in the San Francisco Tap Troupe. I had taken some form of dance lessons from age 10 – 18 (ballet, tap, ballroom, jitterbug) and later, folk and country-western. I wanted to learn how to square dance.

I have met more people (gay, lesbian, transgender, straight, young, old) through square dancing than any other activity. I’ve made lasting friendships. I have supported my club by being on the Board five years and by serving as club administrator for two years.

One of the most colorful and entertaining aspects of gay square dancing is the western attire. Originally from Arkansas, I’m attracted to men in cowboy boots and jeans… and occasionally in crinoline. I was one of a small group of gay square dancers called the Rainbow Girls (or the Ball Sisters). My color was green.

THE WINDOW: THANK YOUR SQUARE

First, I chose my favorite color, green, as the background of my window. I struggled with the concept. Most of the previous windows had involved an artistic rendering of a square dance call. I decided that I wanted to depict more of a feeling.

In square dance instruction booklets, the “men” are represented by squares and the “ladies” by circular figures. I used this idea to depict the four men and four ladies in a square.

At the end of every square dance tip, the caller says, “Thank your square.” The eight dancers put their right arm over their left arm and join hands. This creates a circle…a CONNECTION. They lean forward and then backward, releasing hands and saying, “T-H-A-N-K YOU!”

The heart at the center of the window with swirls outward to the dancers is meant to illustrate the warmth and positive energy shared by everyone in the circle that is always part of the fellowship of the square.