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led her to country. “I saw Club Dance on [The
Nashville Network] and thought the dancing was
neat. I wanted to learn to do it. I was going through
a change in my relationship, so I was looking to
meet people.”
Sue heard about the Eastside, a new bar that
opened late in 1991. It was at their Sunday after
noon two-step lessons, taught by Don Minnerly,
that Sue learned the basics. Later, Tuesday night
line dancing lessons were added. “The first couple
weeks the teacher was a guy named Mark, but it
really became popular under Crystal,” Sue remem
bers. “Crystal used to pack the place on Tuesday
nights.”
Sue met Delmar at the first line dance class at
the Eastside. “We were learning the traveling cha-
cha. Delmar and I didn’t have a partner, and we
learned the dance together. We followed that up
with the horseshoe shuffle, and kept dancing to
gether. We learned any structured step that had a
partner.”
The lessons together paid off when Sue was
asked to start teaching Thursday night lessons at
the Eastside after about a year. Sue asked Delmar
to help her.
“She asked me if I wanted to be her partner, and
I said ‘I do,’ ” Delmar laughs.
When the Eastside closed, they moved to
Slaughters, where they’ve been teaching lessons
ever since. “We’ve been a team for about five
years,” says Sue, “dancing together as a team and
teaching.”
Sue eventually did meet a partner while coun
try dancing. Teri Pemberton “used to come in and
watch, and dance a little bit. We got introduced and
became friends, and eventually, partners. I was
teaching, and got her more into two-step and line
dancing. Now, we both enjoy country and dancing.
She’s very supportive.”
Sue and Teri have been together for three years.
Delmar Gordy, Sue’s teaching partner, grew up
in rural Illinois on a farm replete with cows and
horses.
“We used to go to the grange halls and go
square dancing,” he recalls. “My mother was into
country music, the Grand Ole Opry and Nash
“We paired up, and it’s been good times and good
dancing ever since,” he says.
To leam new dances, Sue and Delmar some
times go to straight bars like The Drum and Rock
’N’ Rodeo, or the Oasis when it was open. Delmar
has also danced at San Francisco’s Rawhide II, and
Seattle’s famous Timberline. Interestingly enough,
most of the gay dance bars taught partner dances,
while straight bars were heavy on line dances. One
line dance they didn’t teach at straight bars was
“the circle jerk,” an invention of the gay country
dancers. Early on, Sue’s favorite dance was the
boot scoot boogie, while now she favors “Elvis
Interestingly enough, most of the gay dance bars taught partner dances,
while straight bars were heavy on line dances.
One line dance they didn 't teach at straight bars was
uthe circle jerk, an invention of the gay country dancers.
”
ville.” Delmar left the farm for the big city, but
never stopped listening to country.
Returning from Hawaii in the early ’80s, Delmar
went to the Rawhide in Los Angeles. “I saw these
guys dancing the two-step and fell in love with it
immediately. 1 wanted to be a part of it, but could
never get myself out on the dance floor.”
It took him almost 10 years. Although he later
longed to dance at Portland’s Slaughters in the
early ’90s, Delmar never danced until he started
taking lessons at the Eastside, where he met Sue.
rocks" and the Cheyenne. Delmar prefers the oil
can slide, the tush push, a partner dance called the
horseshoe shuffle, and the traveling cha-cha.
“I’m not bored with any of the dances,” Delmar
notes, grinning.
Sue and Delmar teach country dance lessons
every Wednesday night at Slaughters, from 8 to 9
pm. Each lesson varies, presenting from one to six
dances, with a heavy emphasis on line dancing and
reviews of dances learned in the previous weeks.
“We’ve always filled up the evening with as
many dances as we can,” says Sue. “The more
people who bring their friends, the better the en
ergy. It’s kind of infectious. Groups of people are
drawing their friends in. It’s fun, it’s safe, it’s good
exercise, it’s a good way to meet people and have
a good time.”
And what about newcomers?
“The biggest thing people have is the fear that
they don’t know how to dance,” says Sue. “Every
one was a beginner at one time. Once you leam one
dance, the next one becomes easier. Come when
there’s a class at first, and you won’t be as intimi
dated, because people are on the floor learning. We
like to see new people and take the time to teach
them, because we were there once.”
Delmar agrees with Sue when it comes to
newcomers: “Don’t be afraid. Come out on the
dance floor. The courage to come out on the dance
floor is one of the favorite gifts I’ve given myself.”
M
eanwhile, across the river at Choices,
Crystal Encinas is still teaching country
dances and spinning western CDs. Crys
tal grew up in Arizona, but although her grandpar
ents had a country ranch, she didn’t want any part
of the culture.
“I hated country music until I started dancing,”
she says.
That changed in 1991, when she went to C.C.
Slaughters with a friend named Annette. “I en
joyed the partner dancing, and when I saw the line
dancing I picked it up very quickly. I really en
joyed it and started going every weekend and
doing line dances, two-stepping and swinging.”
There weren’t any lessons in Portland when
Crystal started, but she picked the dances up so
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