Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1988)
Squaring up • • • • • Gay and lesbian square dancers turn this gender-specific dancing on its ear, giving some callers an education in the process BY A N N D E E oils watercolors sculpture glass ceramics H O C H M A N he tape player on the deck spills some boot-tapping, fiddle-swaying music into the mild Friday night air. On the back lawn of a comfortable southwest Portland home, eight women “ square up,” standing in pairs, waiting for the cue. “ Bow to your partner,” calls a jovial male voice from the tape. And the ritual begins. It’s the Women’s Caucus of the Rosetown Ramblers, Portland’s gay square dance club. For most of the dozen women members, not all of whom are do-si-do-ing tonight, square dance time is play time — a respite from heavy-duty schedules that tax the brain instead of the body. They say they love square dancing because it’s physical, because there are no issues — beyond deciding who dances the “ girl’s” part meet, flirt and dance within the safety of a and who dances the “ boy’s.” There’s nothing crowd and the formal limits of square dance to get enraged about. Square dancing is about calls. In the Rosetown Ramblers, those limits routine, repetition, about a ritualized, almost serve a different purpose, providing an courtly form of fun that got lost on dance floors opportunity for gay men and lesbians to meet on sometime between the tango and the twist. turf that isn’t charged with politics or personal In the square, every dancer counts equally. issues. You don’t even have to come out — and There are no stars. Bow to your partner and most members of the Women’s Caucus won’t remember your right from your left. Follow the do so fully, agreeing to talk but declining to be call, and you can’t go wrong. Life should be this named in an article. straightforward. Emerald Goldman thought she might square The presence of gay square dance clubs — dance her way into some new friendships when and the growing number of women in the she joined the club in January. “ Unlike square 120-member Rosetown Ramblers — says dancing in junior high school, this is not based something political, whether the dancers want it on heterosexual tension,” she said. “ I’m a to or not. When gay men and lesbians square really strong feminist. Now I’m ending up dance, they turn inside out a dance routine having some really nice male friends from the rooted in the most conventional male-female group.” roles. The women in the group say they’ve learned Once upon a time, square dancing was an about teamwork; if one person forgets a move arena for a rather supervised form of dating. or promenades the wrong way, the square can Even the costumes were exaggerated versions of dissolve into a human bumper-car arena. And male and female dress — crinolines that stuck they've learned to cover their goofs, to smile out like starched lampshades for women, and keep stepping. cowboy shirts, bolero ties and scuffed boots for The club dances at least once a week, and men. And the calls play on a romantic notion of there are periodic events that bring together gay courtship: “ Swing that lady and promenade her square dancers from all over the Northwest home.” region. Classes for newcomers begin this Gay and lesbian square dancers turn this month, with free lessons on September 1 and 8. gender-specific dancing on its ear, giving some The women of the Rosetown Ramblers dance callers an education in the process. Cheryl in the thickening twilight. “ Spin chain Dumolt, president of the Rosetown Ramblers through . . . ” says the caller, cheerily. “ Boys club, was one of the first women to break the circulate double . . . recycle the boy.” club’s all-male ranks two years ago. She There is a shuffle on the grass, some giddy remembers some baffled callers who scanned laughter. A bit of gender confusion — “ Wait, the room, trying to figure out which were the we have two ‘boys’ together,” someone says. “ gents” and which were the "ladies.” No problem. Dumolt stops the tape. It may be “ They look around a square, and there’s just for fun, but there are lessons in the square eight moustaches, eight T-shirts and blue that you can pocket and carry back to life. You jeans,” she said. miss a step; you stop and notice and laugh; then Where it still happens in bams and hoedowns. you square up, hit the music and try the dance square dancing is a fairly benign social ritual, a again. • chance for people from across the county to T Mixed Media Painting by Lee Bogle Hilton Gallery rJ 715 sw s e c o n d a v en u e • portland, Oregon 97204 • 503-274-9544 HAPPY HARVEST G O E SO URCE NATURAL * .. w MONTHLY COMFORT NATURALP.M.S. reuef ON SALE 6 thru 9 /2 7 /8 8 99 42 TAB REG. $8.99 AND TRY OUR VEGETARIAN CAFE 235-5358 2348 SE ANKENY 1 BLOCK SOUTH of BURNSIDE K rank J . Dixon DIXO N & FRI F DM AN Attorneys at l aw Psychological Services for Women, Men, and Couples Kristine L. Falco, Psv.D. Psychological Resident Supervisor Jean A. Furchner, Ph D. 634-9866 Milvvaukie, Oregon torn s W lav tor Suite 4 '0 Portland. ( >K ‘>7ju s 242-1440 Personal Injury Real Estate W ills and Probate Debt Counseling Bankruptcy ( hi I (ill title r h i 'i i ’ \ tim i u ( < kt >itl\ fo r < im r^ rn i w \ juft out • H • September 1988