Square Dance Events with DC Lambda Squares!
Last Updated: August 29, 2010
Next Beginner Dance
Open House - Bring Your Friends
No-attitude, all-friendly square dancing.
September 28, 7:30 - 9:30 pm in Scott Hall at National City Christian Church.
No experience necessary. Singles and couples welcome. Smoke and alcohol free. Casual dress.
We dance at National City Christian Church at 5 Thomas Circle. We want to see you there! You are always welcome! The floor in Scott Hall, where we dance, is carpeted. So you should wear some hard-soled shoes for really smooth dancing.
Last Thursday - Guest Caller Skip Cleland - WOW!
Give yourself a treat; come on down. Is what we said. And over 40 people did just that. We had guests from in town; we had guests from out of town; we even had members whom we see so seldom that they seemed like guests as well. There were three full squares of Advanced dancers alone. And sadly, we found out later that there were five people outside the front of the church who were unable to get in around 8:15 because the doors were locked and no one answered. Or we'd have had even more people.
Tubing Down the River - 2010
Labor Day Weekend in Alexandria: The National Singles Dance-A-Rama
Since they have just hosted the IASCDC convention, Chicago is not holding their traditional Labor Day weekend fly-in this year. Luckily, we have a local alternative, the 40th National Singles Dance-A-Rama hosted by the DC Area [straight] Singles Square Dance Association.
The event is September 2-5 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center (off I-395) and is chaired by friend of DC Lambda Squares, Arbell Thompson. Advance registration is $40 per person before August 1, which goes up to $45 afterwards.
The weekend begins on Thursday, September 2, with a Trail-In Dance (2x2) called by Tom Miller and Butch Adams, with Dom Filardo cueing, from 7:30-10:30 pm. This dance is $6.00 at the door without registering for the entire weekend.
On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday there will be square & round dance and CW/Lines from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, with breaks for lunch and dinner and ice cream in the evenings. "Square Dance Attire" (long sleeve shirts for men) is required for the evening sessions. Callers include some familiar faces:
- Mike Callahan (New York)
- Eric Henerlau (California)
- Butch Adams (Virginia)
- Skip Cleland (Virginia)
- Matt Worley (Virginia)
- Ken Ritucci (Massachusetts)
- Tom Miller (Pennsylvania)
There are also afterparties (with "social dancing") from 10:30 pm to 1:00 am on Friday and Saturday evenings. Maybe we can show them some new moves.
The event includes a Pre-Convention Callers Seminar on Sep 1-2 conducted by Ken Ritucci, Tom Miller, Mike Callahan, and Butch Adams. Contact Arbell for more information at arbellthompson@aol.com.
Details are at www.dar2010.ssdusa.org. Sounds like fun!
C1 - C2
Bill Harrison is running a C1 concepts weekend in Columbia, MD, Sept 24-25. That's a Friday evening and all-day Saturday, and it includes a C2 hour Saturday afternoon. Kent, Michael, Brian, Tim, & Happy are planning to attend... other DCLS folks might be interested too.
Click here for the registration form.
[That Saturday, September 25, is also the day of a community dance. Just so you'll know.]
Hillwood
This year's Gay Day celebration at Hillwood (Marjorie Merriweather Post's Washington, D.C., mansion and museum) will be on October 2. MARK YOUR CALENDARS. We are lucky to have enlisted Butch Adams as choreographer, caller, teacher for this event. As in previous years, a contingent of DC Lambda Squares dancers will perform during the day. The theme of this year's event is WEDDINGS! What SHALL we wear? Do we all don veils?
Rehearsal Schedule
| Rehearsal: | Rehearsal #1 | Rehearsal #2 |
| Date: | Wednesday, September 29 | Saturday, October 2 |
| Time: | TBD | 9:00am |
| Location: | TBD | Hillwood |
We now have 16 volunteers, so it will be possible to have two squares. However, we would like a few extras whom we would gracefully alternate into the performance. It is a good idea to have extras in case of unforeseen circumstances.
| Dale | Missy | Cindy | Nick |
| Tonja | Lisa A | Olivia | Brad |
| Juanita | Happy | Ed | Michael M |
| Phillip | Kathy | Joe H | Ronnie |
See Ronnie's latest flyer.
New Mainstream Class Starting
DC Lambda Squares is sponsoring a new class which will run on Saturdays, October 9 through November 6. Students will be ready for the Harvest Festival Hoedown in York, Pennsylvania, on November 12 through 14.
The classes will be from 9 AM to 5 PM with a one-hour lunch break. Butch Adams will teach the first class; Kent Forrester will teach most of the rest.
The space for this class has not yet been determined but alert anyone you know who even thinks about learning square dancing.
Vests and Shirts
If you ordered an embroidered Club vest or shirt and have not yet picked up or paid for the items (you know who you are), you may contact to make arrangements. There is still one vest available for purchase at $35 (a men's size medium) and several lavender Oxford shirts of various men's and women's sizes at $30/each. Checks should be made out to DC Lambda Squares.
Board Meeting Highlights
CHANGE - involving the Next Community Dance
- The next Community Dance, scheduled for Saturday, September 25 with Dayle Hodge calling, was originally planned to be a 'combo' dance with Challenge in the afternoon followed by a potluck and then other level dancing in the evening. However, many C dancers will reportedly be attending Billy Harrison's C1 Concepts workshop that day. The Board therefore decided to just have the potluck and evening dance on September 25 and make the following community dance (October 30th Halloween weekend) a combo dance.
- The Board endorsed the suggestion that the Club participate in the 17th Street Festival to celebrate the completion of the street-scaping project on the afternoon of September 25. Stay tuned for further information.
- There will be another ABC Dance/Open House on Tuesday, September 28, the last one before the new Mainstream class begins on October 9. So far we have three students registered for the class.
CHANGE - BIG CHANGE involving club night format
- The Club Night schedule was adjusted* to add more floor time for Challenge dancers. Beginning in October, the schedule will be:
| First Thursday: | Plus with as-needed Mainstream (not a change) |
| Second Thursday: | Advanced/Challenge (changed from Plus/Advanced) |
| Third Thursday: | Plus with as-needed Mainstream (not a change) |
| Fourth Thursday: | Plus/Advanced (not a change) |
| Fifth Thursday: | Challenge (not a change) |
*The bylaws allow the Board to make adjustments in the dance schedule. The motion to make the adjustment was moved by a Plus dancer and seconded by another Plus dancer.
NEWS - BIG NEWS
Last Highlight - A?
- The Board is actively working to organize an Advanced class to begin as soon as feasible.
This Week
08/31/10 - Chesapeake Squares Club Night - Mainstream thru Advanced, 8 - 10p, Waxter Center. For more info, contact: .
09/02/10 - DC Lambda Squares Club Night - Mainstream & Plus, 7:30 - 9:30p, National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Cir NW Washington DC, Caller: Dayle. For more info, contact: .
Community Dances
- September 25, Caller: Dayle Hodge
- October 30, Caller: Bill Harrison
- December 11, Caller: Butch Adams
- January 29, Caller: Betsy Gotta
Club Night Format
| First Thursday: | Mainstream & Plus |
| Second Thursday: | Plus and Advanced |
| Third Thursday: | Mainstream & Plus |
| Fourth Thursday: | Plus and Advanced |
| Fifth Thursday: | Advanced and C1 |
Coming Soon...
09/07/10 - Chesapeake Squares Club Night - Mainstream thru Advanced, 8 - 10p, Waxter Center. For more info, contact: .
09/09/10 - DC Lambda Squares Club Night - Plus & Advanced, 7:30 - 9:30p, National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Cir NW Washington DC, Caller: Brian or Kent. For more info, contact: .
09/14/10 - Chesapeake Squares Club Night - Mainstream thru Advanced, 8 - 10p, Waxter Center. For more info, contact: .
09/16/10 - DC Lambda Squares Club Night - Mainstream & Plus, 7:30 - 9:30p, National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Cir NW Washington DC, Caller: Skip Cleland. For more info, contact: .
09/21/10 - Chesapeake Squares Club Night - Mainstream thru Advanced, 8 - 10p, Waxter Center. For more info, contact: .
09/23/10 - DC Lambda Squares Club Night - Plus & Advanced, 7:30 - 9:30p, National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Cir NW Washington DC, Caller: Dayle. For more info, contact: .
09/25/10 - Community Dance, 7 - 10p, Location: TBD; Caller: Dayle Hodge. For more info, contact: .
09/28/10 - DC Lambda Squares Open House, 7:30 - 9:30p, National City Christian Church (Scott Hall) 5 Thomas Cir NW Washington DC, Caller: Kent. For more info, contact: .
09/28/10 - Chesapeake Squares Club Night - Mainstream thru Advanced, 8 - 10p, Waxter Center. For more info, contact: .
09/30/10 - DC Lambda Squares Club Night - Advanced & Challenge, 7:30 - 9:30p, National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Cir NW Washington DC, Caller: TBD. For more info, contact: .
Useful Contact Info
If you have news, dish, rumors, or comments, email your newsletter editors, .
If you have a question about DC Lambda Squares, , or snail mail your inquiry to DC Lambda Squares, P.O. Box 77782, Washington DC 20013-8782.
If you have questions about the web site, or you have found broken links, the site behaves in a weird way for you, contact , and he'll fix it.
Gay Square Dancing Links:
The URL to the DCLS website is: http://www.dclambdasquares.org
The URL to the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs website is: http://wwww.iagsdc.org/
The URL to the East Coast Dancers Calendar is: http://www.iagsdc.org/timessquares/NortheastCalendar.html
Square Dancing and then some:
Ettseteras
Challenge dancers: Ettseteras. The club dances every second and fourth Monday of the month, and all C1 dancers are welcome to attend. Gay-friendly club, $7/dancer, singles welcome, casual dress. Location: 9800 Cherry Hill Rd, College Park, MD. Contact for more information. Please note: no dancing if Prince George's county schools are closed, or close early, due to weather. If in doubt, call Ett at 443-745-1709.
Butch Adams
Butch Adams offers some great Plus dance-by-definition (DBD) square dancing. Plus DBD is all of the calls you know and love, but often from new or different positions. Butch offers workshop dances and classes. Here's his schedule:
Plus DBD Workshop
7:30 to 10 P.M.; 2nd, 4th and 5th Tuesdays of the month
Thoreau Middle School
2505 Cedar Lane
Vienna, VA 22180
Plus DBD Workshop/Class
7:30 to 9:30 P.M. every Wednesday evening
Lincolnia Senior Center
4710 North Chambliss St
Alexandria, VA 22312
For more information, contact .
WASCA Dance Sites
An industrious person has, based on the WASCA club listing on its web site, located all of the WASCA member clubs on a Google Map. The clubs are color coded by dance day, with a circular pin for fixed locations, a map pin for those that have varying locations. The link is:
Square Dance Animation
The TAMinations website will take you to a wonderful place with examples of all the square dance calls in all the land. You can watch the move happen at a fast pace, a slow place, or manually, at your own pace.
Noriko Takahashi has a great animated square dance site for Basic through Advanced. Check it out and enjoy: http://members.tripod.com/~noriks/ENGLISH/English-Index2.html. If your browser attempts to download a Japanese character set, just cancel the download operation.
Another animated site where you can order a CD. This site shows some examples from the CD. Work those skirts.... http://www.squaredancecd. com/sdance.htm (Uses frames).
And for a change of pace, check out Lavender Country & Folk Dancers at http://www.lcfd.org.
Board Members:
| President | (a.k.a John Burlison) |
| Vice-President | |
| Secretary | (a.k.a. James Bogden) |
| Treasurer | |
| Membership | |
| At Large | |
| At Large | |
| Archangel | |
| Newsletter Editor | |
| Web Contact |
Learn to Square Dance with DC Lambda Squares
Read more about our classes....
DC Lambda Squares welcomes singles, couples, and those on the rebound. We provide an energetic activity that encourages smiles, promotes friendship, and is a ticket to the hip, social, sexy world of square dancing. We promise that without any irony at all, and we do it in a smoke-free, alcohol-free space. Suddenly, Monday nights are fun again!
Remember, if you can walk, you can dance! Meanwhile, we'd love to come and put on a dance demo for your club or organization, and throughout the year, we host a number of open houses and fundraisers for the community. If you would like more information about any of this, please contact , our Membership Chairperson. Come back to this page for updates and details.
From time to time, we schedule dance open houses. At our open houses, you'll meet club members and learn about a dozen calls of Modern Western Square Dancing! Men, women, singles, and couples are welcome. You don't need a partner, and you don't need any previous dance experience. We'll teach you everything you need to know.
Admission is free at the open houses, and we'll provide refreshments in a smoke-free, alcohol-free environment. Dress is casual. You don't need to wear crinolines, unless you really want to. We recommend comfortable clothes.
We dance at National City Christian Church (NCCC) at 5 Thomas Circle, Washington, DC. Please for more information.
Every so often we're going to feature a club member. So if Tonja, Ace Reporter, asks you for an interview, be sure to say yes, because we all want to get to know you better. Read all of Tonja's club member interviews. Mein, who came here from the Philippines via Long Island, is now, since this past ACDC weekend, a seasoned Advance Level dancer. But here's the thing. Mein has been square dancing since the spring of 2006 when he began with an Accelerated Learning Program. He completed the Plus lessons in 2007. And began Advanced in the fall of 2007. He's almost through the Advanced class. Almost. So... since at ACDC he danced every tip, as lead and follow, it would appear he's fast onto becoming a dancing machine. Well, maybe he already is. Mein dances Latin dances Samba, Rhumba, ChaCha; he teaches Salsa, is in a Salsa Rueda group (Rueda is a called dance pattern lying somewhere between round and square dancing); dances counry and western, line dancing, east and west coast swing. Oh, and he could polka if he felt like it. Mein had been vaguely aware that there was such a thing as gay square dancing. But it wasn't until the 2005 ASGRA rodeo that he was personally introduced to it. In the demo tip. And the invitational tip. He had to wait until spring to begin classes. And then danced irregularly at club night awaiting the next set of Plus classes. After the rodeo and before the Mainstream classes began, Mein just showed up one evening to see what the Lambda Squares looked like in their home. Knowing no one, he was immediately made to feel welcome by the friendly Lambdas who, but of course, invited Mein to dance anyway, and pulled this natural through a few tips. Mein has a fondness for the five- and six-couple formations that Jim Wass used when he taught. Thinks Harper's Ferry Hoedown to be the best thing going outside of the weekly dance nights. That is, until he met ACDC. And is quietly thrilled to have come so far as to be able to help newer dancers (and even some older ones) make their way through the calls. Amazing Mein; how cute thou art. Visit Mein's website, www.SonMas.net, for salsa information. With an admitted fondness for toes, Nick is presently the DC Lambda Squares club treasurer (and a fine thing it is, too). Nick's beginning involvement with the club stemmed from a great sadness. As the caretaker of a loved one dying from HIV, he sought some kind of respite among people who would be unawares of the daily problems and issues he faced. He wanted a place or activity that would be separate from the other life of constant cares, a small space of freedom and relief. He discovered DC Lambda Squares at a Gay Pride event and found the balance he had been seeking in a safe, wholesome atmosphere where for a brief while, he could slip away from the nightmare. Taking lessons up through Plus from Doug Barnett, DC Lambda Squares long-time instructor, Nick considers himself now to be "stuck" at Plus. This is inaccurate as he will jump into an Advanced Square (he completed Gary Felton's Advanced class) where he injects, always, lightness and laughter, an infectiousness that even travels to adjoining squares. It is this spirit of joy, of fellowship and camaraderie that Nick cherishes about the club. Lambda members really do care about one another. He has seen them laugh together and cry together; he has witnessed warmth and support in times of sorrow, and shared pleasure in happier times. Nick's first convention was in 1990 (either Seattle or Vancouver). He was awestruck. From the initial excitement of the Trail Inn, to the leather tip, the moonshine tip, to the dressing up, the costumes, the constant color and theatre of it all, he was, and remains, hooked. A thousand, twelve hundred gay men and women dancing together….where else can you find that? We don't know where else. But we are getting a pedicure. Katherine has come a long ways from Nebraska, but maybe the Midwest and corn fanned a spark for square dancing.... Katherine is another reluctant convert to the joys of square dancing. Two short years ago she accompanied her grandparents to a square dance class in Missouri. She nixed the notion of her own participation. No, no. She’d just sit and watch. Thanks, but no thanks. But then she was sorry as she saw how much fun it was. She knew immediately that she wanted to join in. Coming to the DC area, Katherine tried for a whole year to find a place to square dance. It wasn’t very promising. The straight clubs she found had two glaring negatives. One was the average age of the members (her grandparents’ age); and two was that "have-to-be-coupled-up" factor that bedevils singles, especially single women, in straight clubs. Noodling around on the internet, Katherine nearly missed a tiny link to gay square dancing. She went back and clicked on it and TA DA! DC Lambda Squares. She signed up instantly. Katherine hasn’t been square dancing long enough to have racked up a huge number of square dance moments. However, she does mention the time a woman joined her square wearing a baby in a sling. How was this woman going to be able to...? Katherine surprised herself as she found during the tip that she didn’t even notice the baby. Hey, start 'em young! Her first encounter with DCLS gave Katherine the slightest moment of pause. Alone and knowing not a soul in the group, she entered the Baptist church basement and found a group of older men standing around... who turned and looked at her. (She did stand out, after all.) And made her wonder. Um, was she in the right place? Had she made a terrible, terrible mistake? That feeling of uncertainty was quickly transformed by the warmth and welcoming atmosphere that Lambda Dancers shower on newcomers. And now she’s a terrific booster for the club. Katherine dances Plus, having learned it all here with DC Lambda Squares. Originally from far off Cumberland, Maryland, Ed has been square dancing for an indeterminate number of years. One of two things: either it's a secret number, or he's quite forgotten (it's been THAT long). Ed did not come willingly to square dancing; he was more or less forced into it. Totally uninterested, even actively disinclined towards the activity, he couldn't be bothered. Square dancing? Puhleeze. Besides, Ed was really busy. But he had three friends who were eager to square dance. More than eager. And thinking it was necessary to show up with a partner, Ed (the driver) was coerced into making the fourth. Only if he absolutely HAD to, he said. Then they arrived at CUMC (early location for DC Lambda Squares) and discovered that no, you don't need your own personal partner. Apparently the reality of square dancing differed from Ed's preconception of it; he's been dancing ever since, learning from Doug (the original article), Warren, and then Ett. His first impression that long ago night? A whole room full of gay people and the lights were on. After the first lesson was over, Ed and his gang of four topped off the evening with a visit to Mr. Henry's. This was a huge success. They had such a good time that Mr. Henry's became a tradition carried through to the completion of Mainstream classes. One of Ed's brightest square dance memories occurred at the Baltimore convention. The Edo 8s, a Tokyo club, introduced the Miss Honky Tonk Queen contest with a dance number Ed insists has yet to be equaled. It involved fireworks. (Well anyway, sparklers.) Among other things, Ed appreciates that being part of the DC Lambda Squares means participating in a gay activity that doesn't require going to bars. Let's hear it for Mr. Henry's. Everyone, absolutely everyone, who comes to the DC Lambda Squares makes mention of how friendly and open and warm everyone was to them from their first visit. Cindy is one of the people they are talking about. Cindy makes a new person feel that she couldn't be happier than to see you there. She immediately puts you at ease. She wants to dance with you. YOU. Cindy knew nothing about square dancing until a friend who was a DC Lambda Squares member introduced her to the club. Cindy had been looking around for things to do, things to get her out into the community, ways to meet people, get exercise. She came to an open house and, shazaam! There it all was. <<<<<<<---------- Also there! Olivia, Cindy is her special angel! Cindy dances full Advanced level, having learned Mainstream and Plus DC Lambda Squares, and Advanced with Baltimore's Chesapeake Squares. During her ten years of square dancing, one of Cindy's favorite experiences was seeing Happy in his Wonder Woman costume at the IAGSDC Wish Upon Thar's masquerade ball in Anaheim. And right up there with that event: the convention's Honky Tonk Queen contest where people in drag compete to win a title in a lame beauty contest, the rules of which continually change to accommodate unexpected trends. (The escort had morphed from one person to an entourage which at one point included a whole chorus of Rockettes.) Some past contestants: Cow Patti. Leona Davenport. Sharon Husbands. Ima Cornholder. Tammy Whynot. Are we having enough fun? A tough day at work and Cindy looks forward to club night where she can count on getting happy and relaxed. Along with the friendly, smiling faces Cindy encountered when she joined DCLS, there has been another, and unexpected, boon. Before DCLS, she had few male friends. Now she has more friends of both sexes than she ever dreamed would come out of square dancing. See? Join 16. Go home with friends!Club Member Corner
Meet Mein
Meet Nick
Meet Katherine
Meet Ed
Meet Cindy ------->>>>>>>
