A Square Dance Dilemma

Well, Facebook tells me, there is actually a square dance club quite local to my house. And the name is certainly attractive to geek-folk: they call themselves the Pi-R Squares. And they're starting a fresh set of lessons next week. So that's the plus side. On the minus side, they seem to be mostly on the Couples & Crinolines side of the fence, for all that they do dance modern western square dance. And they start up next week, which is probably sooner than I should be dancing on my left foot. And I feel vaguely disloyal considering starting out with a het club, even if they are closer to my house and starting a new lessons series sooner. Back on the plus side, they do say that there is no dress code or couples requirement for lessons, so that's good. And they also say the first three lessons are free. And they've got their annual pie baking contest this weekend. So I guess I could go check it out and run screaming from the room if they seem too much like a bunch of valetudenarian hetero-fascists. Just because they're straight, doesn't mean they're bad, right?

Hum. What to do, what to do...?

Um, and oh, my goodness gracious me. I did some link hopping from the Pi-R Squares web site and found my way to the website for the 61st National Square Dance Convention, which will be held in Spokane, next year. Golly. There is an Official Skirt and an Official Shirt for the convention, with instructions on how to make them. (Or, you can order the kit.) It's not totally clear to me if the Official Duds are mandatory, or optional. I would hope they're optional, intended for hardcore enthusiasts.

There's all sorts of handy advice there too. Links to pictures of various possible outfits in the Big Foofy Skirt style. A page about what kind of underwear ladies should be wearing to safeguard their secrets and modesty, and what length crinolines should be, relative to their "prairie skirts". And a quite a bit of "prairie skirt" advocacy, too. That part seems just a little bit desperate, to my ear. Like maybe they're seeing a lot of push back on the whole Big Foofy Skirt thing. Now, I can certainly see the appeal of dancing in a full circle skirt, I've done it at Ren Faire, but if I do, I don't particularly want one that looks like the unfortunate offspring of a calico parasol and a 1930s boudoir lampshade.