Lavender Country and Folk Dancers
Website: http://www.lcfd.org
Started: 1988
Admitted to IAGSDC: 01 Jul 2010 as Affiliate Member
Status: Active
Lavender Country and Folk Dancers (LCFD) is an umbrella organization forming a loosely knit group of gender role free dance clubs. (Sometimes the expression is "gender neutral" or "role optional"). LCFD currently encompasses several dance traditions and welcome the opportunity to include more.
LCFD is governed by a Board of Directors who are elected by its members. LCFD is an affiliate of the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) and obtains its 501(c)3 tax exempt status from that relationship.
The mission of LCFD is essentially:
- Organize and run dance camps, which are multiple-day events usually occurring at a rustic site.
- Promote and support gender-free traditional dancing (contra, square, English Country, and folk) primarily, but not exclusively, for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer dancers and friends.
- Promote and support dance leaders, musicians, organizations, and others who support gender-free dancing, whenever possible.
- LCFD is a non-profit organization which will occasionally raise money for the purpose of supporting LCFD activities.
A large number of volunteers work to help LCFD organization flourish. LCFD's biggest activity is to run the twice a year dance camps. Attendance at a dance camp automatically makes a person a member of LCFD for the year. There is a camp committee to run these dance camps. LCFD works with local dance gender free dance groups that are affiliated with it to help them in their organization and outreach. There is a Lavender Dance Legacy Committee that is working on means to help the dance community and organization continue and grow.
LCFD has a program where other groups that run gender-role-free dances and camps can be affiliated with LCFD. This affiliation is used to give web site access, liability insurance, general assistance, and the possibility of various forms of financial assistance.
Currently there are affiliated contra dance groups in Jamaica Plain (MA), Montague (MA), New York City, Glen Cove (LI - NY), Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), and the San Francisco bay area as well as an English Country Dance group in Jamaica Plain (MA). LGBTQ+ contra groups are also forming in Seattle and Tucson.
The San Francisco area group also runs a dance camp that is quite similar in structure to the camps run by LCFD.
History: See Chris Ricciotti's info on the LCFD site for a detailed history of gender-free dancing and calling.
See Gender Roles for a discussion of dance role identifiers in MWSD and contra dancing.
Contra Videos
Contra Dance at Maple Leafs Regroup 2016 [1]
Contra Dance at Gone With The Windmill 2011 [2]
Promo Video for LCFD [3]
