IAGSDC 2024

This year’s IAGSDC was my first con ever, for a narrow enough definition of con. IAGSDC is short for the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs, so formally the convention’s name is the IAGSDC Convention, but everyone in my circles calls it IAGSDC anyway. This year’s convention, titled Carolina Twirl, was in Durham, NC. Because it’s a square dance convention, there was a lot of square dancing. What a surprise.

I’ve talked about the technical aspect of square dancing before; see Non-compositionality of square dance calls and A type-checking square dance puzzle. I’ll try to focus less on that in this post. Anyway.

Day 0: July 4

Enofest

A few months ago, I think it was March, I made plans with Victor to go to IAGSDC. We registered, booked flights to RDU, and got a room in 21c Museum Hotel Durham. Our flight left LGA at 6 AM; we arrived an hour and a half later, and we made our way to the Durham Convention Center, which is where most of the convention would happen.

We took a bus from RDU to the Regional Transit Center. We were figuring out how to pay when the bus driver waved everyone in; it looked like the fare box was broken. From there we took another bus to downtown Durham, where the driver again waved us in, and then I learned that apparently buses were free this month? Or something like that. Anyway, love public transit.

We arrive at the convention center a bit before 9 AM, which was when convention registration would open. Someone, one of the organizers I think, was looking for people who’d go to the Eno River Festival for a square dance demo. Victor and I had nothing better to do for the next few hours, so we went. We got on this tour bus that drove us to the festival.

We got there at around half past 9, and our performance wasn’t until 10:30 AM. We burned our time going around the festival, looking at the things people were selling, walking to the river and back, going inside a museum, and watching the peformers who went before us, who showed off some clogging. Clogging looks kinda like square dancing; when I later learned that it originated from square dancers, I wasn’t surprised.

Then we were up. We fit two squares on the stage. It was hot and humid, definitely 30°C, probably higher. The caller called a tip of some easy Mainstream. After that, we went down from the stage and danced with the audience. I found a partner, and we had this setup where everyone stood in a big circle. We started with the usual intro calls, Circle Left, Circle Right, Dosado, Allemande Left, Promenade. We did a Right and Left Grand, which in a circle of forty or so people, meant taking five times as long as usual.

At the end of the teach, the caller called Yellow Rock. Now, Yellow Rock isn’t on any of the square dance lists, because it’s not a square dance call; it’s an instruction to hug someone, usually your corner or your partner. I’ve been square dancing for five our so years now, to more than a dozen different callers, and I’ve never heard Yellow Rock gotten called before. I’d gotten the impression that it was fully dead, as one of those things that everyone agreed was cringe—but I guess I was wrong. I gestured to my partner that I didn’t want a hug. We shook hands and thanked each other after.

We did another demo tip on stage, and then we took a bus out of the festival. Well, not quite—the bus brought us to the inn that some people were staying in, which was quite a ways away from downtown. Oops.

Gamers

From the inn, Victor and I took a Lyft to Xepher Arcade, an arcade with pretty much only rhythm games. The arcade was in a strip mall, and we wanted to get lunch first before playing. All the restaurants in that mall were closed because of the holiday. The mall was next to another strip mall, though being suburbish America, we had to walk an awkward path around in the heat.

We checked the restaurants in the adjacent mall—all closed too. The only food places that were open was a small Indian grocery store and a Pizza Hut. Victor bought a box of lassi, then we ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut. We failed to open the box of lassi, but Victor brought out some nail clippers and we open a corner of the box to drink from. We ate the pizza outside, sitting on the plaza floor. A suitable way to celebrate the Fourth of July.

After eating, we went to the arcade and got day passes. We played some games I’ve played before, like Sound Voltex, Wacca, and Step It Up, and some I haven’t, like Chunithm, Jubeat, and Múseca. I mostly played the super basic popular songs: Bad Apple!!, Megalovania, Freedom Dive, whatever. I was happy to recognize tracks like Septette for the Dead Princess and The 90’s Decision, which means maybe I’m a weeb? Who knows.

We took a bus (public transit!) back to downtown Durham. Victor and I checked in to our hotel, then Victor got dinner with some people from the Edo 8’s. That’s a square dance club in Tokyo; Victor danced with them when he worked there two summers ago.

I went to the registration desk and got some goodies. There was this pin with the Carolina Twirl logo, a printout of the schedule, meal tickets, and some stuff from sponsors. I made dinner plans with Max, whom I know through my puzzlehunt team, ✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈. We ate at Luna Rotisserie and Empanadas and got empanadas and arepas. We talked about Seattle, working for Dropbox, job satisfaction.

Then we went to the trail-in dance, the first official dance of the convention. We were around two hours late, having taken our time with dinner. I said hi to people I knew, mostly from Tech Squares, the club I danced with when I was in Boston. I danced one tip of Plus, A2, and C1, and then the night was over, and Victor and I went back to the hotel, to the tune of fireworks overhead.

Day 1: July 5

Sleeping in

Victor and I slept in that night, tired from a long day of rhythm games and dancing. I woke up the next morning at around 10 AM. That morning, there was a convention orientation, some warm-up dancing, the Grand March, and opening ceremonies. I decided not to attend any of these, as I thought I’d be bored at them. How irreverent of me. Instead I spent the morning watching this year’s SGDQ Stardew Valley run.

Victor must’ve had the same idea, because he woke up, saw that it was 10 AM, and went back to sleep. At around half past eleven, Victor gets up for real, and then we go to M Kokko for lunch and eat some ramen, while talking about C3A definitions. Neither of us have danced C3A before, but we reviewed some calls leading up to the convention, and hoped that we could dance some C3A without breaking down the whole square.

The first hour we went to was C3A, called by Barry. This was quite a busy room; we filled the whole space with four squares, and had to checkerboard to get everyone to fit. Being the first C3A dance of the convention, people were still warming up, so I hope my mistakes weren’t too noticeable. But yeah, that was the first C3A tip I danced for real.

After that we went to C2, called by Vic, which was pretty fun. Then we went to C3A Take No Prisoners, called by Ett. Take No Prisoners, or TNP, is a calling style done without any cueing or hints. It’s also supposed to be difficult and fast. I was reluctant at first to dance the C3A TNP, but I tried the first tip and it went fine, so I stayed for the rest of it. And it went okay! Maybe I know a little C3A now. Then we went to the C1 hall and danced to Sandie, and then it was time for dinner.

I rounded up Max, Victor, and Arkady, and we got dinner at Luna again, getting the same things we got yesterday, and some new dishes too. We were sharing everything family-style, which our tiny table probably wasn’t meant for, and we struggled fitting eight plates and four glasses on it. But we did it anyway, and it was fun; we talked about square dancing, and pushed Arkady to dance some C1 with us.

Flourishes

After dinner, Michael called C2 TNP, which was more on the difficult side than the fast side. Then we went to the Plus hall for Hot Hash, which Dayle called. Apparently Hot Hash which means no-pausing, fast square dancing, hash being another word for patter, the usual first part of a square dance tip. The last dance I went to that night was more C2 with guest caller Bill, then Sandie.

That night I went to my first IAGSDC dance, other than the trail-in, that was at a level below Challenge; it was the Plus Hot Hash. In levels like SSD, Plus, and Advanced, square dancing is less thinky and more dancy, so people do more flourishes.

I learned square dancing from Tech Squares, and in the first week of class, Ted was teaching Allemande Left. He said that if you went to a grocery store and announced Allemande Left, you’d hear all the square dancers clap in response. Indeed, in Tech Squares, everyone claps after hearing Allemande Left before doing the call. That’s not part of the definition of the call; rather, it’s a flourish.

Flourishes, also called frills or styling, are optional movements dancers can do. Clapping after an Allemande Left is one of the more common flourishes, but it’s by no means universal, unlike what Ted’s comment would suggest. I’ve danced in halls where I’m the only person who claps after an Allemande Left. Not a big deal in this case.

Some flourishes need buy-in from the other dancers. In a Ferris Wheel, for example, the trailing belles can tap hands while executing the call. If you’re a trailing belle and the other person doesn’t do it, that’s fine. Other flourishes need more active participation; in a Dosado, people often do a sort of Highland Fling and turn around each other, rather than the definition, which only requires walking forward, around, and back. This is a pretty common flourish I seldom do, and one I always feel a bit awkward declining, especially when the other dancer starts making the hold.

Other flourishes have more variation between clubs. There’s a regional flourish for Weave the Ring we do in Tech Squares, which I think is somewhat common in the Northeast, where one dancer twirls under the arm of the other. This is a completely different flourish for Weave the Ring that I’ve seen in clubs like Times Squares, where the dancers hold hands and pull back. I’m fine with either one, but the latter seemed way more common in IAGSDC.

It’s interesting, because I’d expect that flourishes would become more standard over time, with them spreading in conventions like IAGSDC. But the Weave the Ring example shows that there’s at least two different flourishes for it, and I’d guess there’s more variation on it out there.

Another sort of variation between square dancers, and one that comes up as soon as you dance, is the issue of handholds. In Tech Squares, the convention is to point the right palm up and the left palm down, and to keep hands at around waist level. I’ve danced with people where the convention is that Boys point hands up, and Girls point hands down, or where the handholds are at chest level. It’s a bit awkward when you do a Single Circle to a Wave and your handholds aren’t compatible.

Day 2: July 6

Ephemerality

The thing about writing a recap for IAGSDC is that square dancing isn’t particularly memorable. I’m not sure what else I’d write other than I went to this, I went to that. In high-level challenge dancing, sure, every once in a while a caller would give one call that’s memorable because it’s particularly tricky or novel (or controversial). Geo shared with me that he once called, from outverted lines, Piecewise Stable Swing the Fractions, which is the kind of call that’d make everyone in a dance hall groan. (In the good way!)

Of all the C2 I danced that weekend, there’s only one sequence I remember particularly well. It starts with a Boys Kick Off, Heads Squeeze, Split Counter Rotate, Centers Follow Your Neighbor. I don’t even remember who called it. And I don’t think there’s much I can remember outside of that—the usual things I remember are things like, that tip had a bunch of asymmetrics, or that caller used The K a bunch.

By far, the thing that I remember from a dance is that was fun. (Or rarely, that wasn’t fun.) I’ve tried calling for a dance a few times now, and I remember taking a lot of time to prepare, writing sequences and stuff. And I have this weird dissonance—why do I spend so much time for something people will only remember as “that was fun”? It’s the same question I raised in Two hundred puzzles, fifty years later, where I talk about ephemerality of puzzlehunts. I still don’t have a satisfying answer. At least it means my material doesn’t have to be interesting, only fun.

The next morning I wake up early to head to a nearby coffee shop, The Oak House, to get breakfast. I checked my emails, reviewed some C3A definitions, then went to the dance halls. I danced some C3A to Michael, then some C2 to Geo, then some C2 to John. I got lunch with Arkady, Max, and Victor again, this time at a Pokeworks. I dance more C3A to Michael. I dance A2 TNP to Vic. Then C3A with Ett, then C2 with Vic, then more C2 to John, then C2 with Sandie, and then there was the banquet dinner.

Maybe you’re not supposed to remember the individual happenings, but the gestalt of the experience. Maybe you’re supposed to miss the trees for the forest.

Squares talk

At the banquet dinner I was seated with several dancers from Tech Squares, Victor, Max, Cally, Judy, Elaine, and several dancers I’ve never met before. Our conversation turned to square dance topics, and we discussed things like 1/2 Teacup Chain and callbacks.

Callbacks, also called sound effects, are things dancers say or do in response to a call. Together with flourishes they form fluff. For example, the usual callback to Triple Scoot is “Rooty-toot-toot!” and the usual callback to Double Pass Thru is to clap thrice. It’s polite to not say callbacks too loud.

This wasn’t something we talked about, but I find some callbacks to be in bad taste. Consider Linear Cycle. Probably the most common callback is “Hinge, fold, follow, peel,” a mnemonic for the call’s definition. That’s fine. But I’ve heard some people say “Hinge, fold, cop a feel.” Myself, I say “Hinge, fold, follow the definition,” which I think is hilarious. In general, I think square dancing could go a long way toward making things more inclusive, a topic that’s been discussed at length elsewhere.

We ended up talking about callbacks for C3A and C3B calls, because those were the levels I was learning, or planning to learn, and the books don’t usually have callbacks. There’s two confusable calls in C3A, Expand the Column and Open Up the Column, and the way I remember the difference is that for Expand the Column, my callback is “Flip out,” while for Open Up the Column, my callback is “Trail and peel.” Both callbacks are reminders for the definition. Well, the people I danced with didn’t use these callbacks, and I mixed them up once or twice while dancing, oops.

All this made for good conversation with the Tech Squares people on our table, but I did notice that the other dancers mostly talked with themselves. I suppose that’s expected, but part of me wondered whether us dancers were, in a sense, too interested in square dancing to make conversation with others. Probably an ungrounded worry, though, right?

During the banquet dinner, there were more ceremonies, like awarding people who’ve attended IAGSDC for 25 years, the Golden Boot Award, and messages from the organizers of next year’s convention. Against my expectations, the program was at least somewhat interesting, though maybe some parts ran a bit long. Anyway, after the dinner, there was more dancing. There was C2 with Geo, then C3A with Sandie, then C2 with Ett, which I left early to watch Barry calling C4.

I’ve always found watching C4 interesting, ever since the first time I watched a C4 tip in March 2020. At the time, I was halfway through an A2 class, and was familiar with some C1 concepts. And it was interesting watching dancers muttering things like “Phantom Boxes Reflected, Reflected what?” and “it’s Single, don’t turn around; you’re a Side Boy right?” I would try following what the dancers were doing, but would give up whenever something like Siamese Twosome Connect the Diamond gets called.

Now, though, when I watch C4, I know what two-thirds of the calls and concepts mean. I don’t know what Connect the Diamond is, but I know enough about Siamese Twosome to guess. The amusement I had of watching eight C4 dancers figuring a call out has been replaced with something like befuddlement or interest. I now listen to calls like Disconnected Scoot and Fancy and find myself wanting to discuss, in the square, with the dancers, where the Disconnected Columns are, or, after the tip, how to dance it smoothly, or whatnot.

Am I too interested in square dancing? I hope not.

After that, I went to the Plus hall to dance to Ted. It’s the first time I danced with Ted that weekend, which is unsurprising given that I’ve mostly been dancing C2 and C3A, and Ted doesn’t call those levels. There was an SSD tip, which I sat out, then a Plus tip, then an A2 tip. After that, Victor and I went to the C1 hall, where people were doing some freestyle twostep. We watched for a bit and then went back to the hotel, closing the last full day of the convention.

Day 3: July 7

Winding down

The previous night, while we were sitting down and watching people dance, Victor asked me how I was feeling. I said I was having fun, and that I was enjoying my time. That interaction was still on my mind come next morning.

It was the last day of the convention, and there were only four hours of dancing left, and then it’s over. Victor and I checked out. Then we got brunch, the same place the banquet was, and there were some more ceremonies. Dancing didn’t start until 12:30 PM.

Vic and Sandie called some C1 together. They’d take turns saying calls in the same sequence, with all the repartee you’d expect from an improv game. You know that game where two people alternate saying words, and Alice says “your”, and Bob says “cat”, Alice says “and”, Bob says “dog”, “and”, “cow”, “and”, “sheep”, and how Alice can keep heckling Bob by saying “and”? The square dance equivalent, apparently, is adding “and Spread” to every call. Sandie would say “Acey Deucey,” and Vic would say “and Spread;” Sandie replies with “Follow Your Neighbor,” Vic adds an “and Spread.” It’s funnier than it sounds, I promise.

Sandie called Plus TNP, which was fun, and I left halfway to go to C1 from Geo. Then Barry called C1 TNP, and I again left halfway to squeeze in some more C3A before the convention ended, this time from Vic. This one I remember a little bit of—Vic called Spin Chain and Exchange the Gears, and said, “You know how to dance Plus, right?” And before the last tip, someone who danced with the Edo 8’s introduced herself to me in Japanese, and I responded with an あの, すみません, 日本語を話しません.

Victor had to leave soon after. His flight was leaving RDU earlier than mine, because he was going to a work offsite, and I was going back to LGA. I sat in the lobby of the convention center, browsing my phone.

There was, technically, more dancing happening. I could’ve gone to the Plus hall and danced to Vic, or the A2 hall and danced to Dayle. But somehow, I didn’t feel like doing it. I already felt the post-con depression beginning to swell inside me. I sat down, went on my phone, scrolled through stuff. Max came by to say goodbye. Then the closing ceremonies happened somewhere, which I again didn’t attend, but this time it was less about irreverence and more about not having the energy to walk to where it was happening.

Coming home

Arkady came to the lobby and sat next to me. We talked for a bit. Ginda came after and sat with us too. Eventually I left and got dinner at this burger place. I remember seeing a party of IAGSDC dancers there, though my memory fails me on who they were, but they were kind enough to invite me to eat with them.

I went to the airport soon after, arriving a full three hours before my flight. Security was empty. I spent some time working on Galactic Puzzle Hunt, trying to get my mind off of square dancing before my flight. I landed in LGA a little past 11 PM. I took a cab back to my apartment, unpacked, and went to sleep.