Events

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Convention

Convention pins 1984-2022. The collection was started by Dennis Cossey and is continued by his partner, IAGSDC Historian Karl Jaeckel.

Each year--generally centered around a holiday weekend such as 4th of July, Memorial Day, or Easter--the IAGSDC stages a square dance convention for its members and friends. Although considered a GLBT event, as time has passed and both the gay and straight square dance communities have aged, increasing numbers of GLBT-friendly straight dancers have attended.

IAGSDC Conventions are planned out roughly five years in advance, and are "bid" on by different IAGSDC clubs. (See Convention Bid Process.)

There are many traditions celebrated and activities staged at each Convention.

Each year, Allan Hurst publishes The Guide To IAGSDC® Conventions, a document designed to provide an extensive orientation to Convention for new dancers.

Conventions have been held annually since 1984.

List of All IAGSDC Conventions

Specialty Tips

Staging Convention

Fly-Ins

A Fly-In is a weekend-long square dance event. Because the early LGBTQ+ square dance clubs were geographically distant, driving between their locations to attend a dance or dance weekend was usually prohibitive. Flying was the norm for many out-of-town attendees, hence the name "Fly-In".

While the meeting of groups at the 1982 Denver rodeo qualifies as the first "Fly-In", the term first appears to have been used for the 1983 weekend hosted by the South Florida Mustangs.

See Ten Years IAGSDC: A Collection of Pages From Our Memory Book for more early references.

Many IAGSDC member clubs hold regularly scheduled Fly-Ins, while others put them on more sporadically. Also considered as Fly-Ins are ACDC and the West Coast A&C weekends.

• Anniversary Fly-Ins
• Annual & Bi-Annual Fly-Ins
• ACDC (East Coast A&C Fly-In)
• West Coast A&C Weekend (Various locations)

Non-IAGSDC Events of Note

• AACE Academy of Advanced & Challenge Enthusiasts
• Moon Over (men's clothing-optional square dance weekends)
• National Square Dance Convention
  • Rainbow Square in 2009 Nationals
• Peel Off (men's clothing-optional square dance weekends)
• Women's Weekend

LGBTQ+ Square Dance Vacations and/or Cruises

• Pink Triangles in Red Square Russia and Latvia 1993
• Chase the Queen London 1994
• Spin the Windmill Amsterdam 1995
• Pink Triangles Down Under Australia 1996
• Ripple The Wave 4 cruises