Shadow Committee
The "Shadow Committee" is a group of veteran IAGSDC dancers and callers pulled together by Rick Hawes in 2013 for the express purpose of proposing an IAGSDC convention to be held in Minneapolis in 2017.
Up to that time, IAGSDC convention bids had always been submitted by a specific club, to take place in their home city.
In 2013, when Allan Hurst discussed the possibility of a club-unaffiliated Minneapolis bid with Karl Jaeckel, Karl countered with Houston, TX and Orlando, FL, and an interesting idea: Host an IAGSDC convention in any city that has a large GLBT population and where the IAGSDC wants to start (or restart) a club.
The nickname "The Shadow Committee" was used because the people involved were, in fact, from three different clubs (nine if you count all of the clubs Allan Hurst belongs to), and because they were proposing a convention in a city that had no IAGSDC club. (Minneapolis did, at one point in time, have a local club, Minnesota Wild Roses, which folded in 2005.)
The name is also a nod to the Shadows, an alien race from the television show "Babylon-5", who remained unseen for most of the show, as well as to the concept of a "Shadow Cabinet", in this case a group of club-unaffiliated dancers running a bid against existing clubs.
For purposes of convenience, since IAGSDC convention bids have been traditionally submitted by a club, Heads To The Center was listed as the "hosting" club, since all of the members of the Shadow Committee are also members of Heads To The Center, which is a "virtual" club with members scattered throughout the IAGSDC.
The members of the Shadow Committee are:
- Rick Hawes (Chair)
- Gordon Macaw (Treasurer)
- Seth Levine (Caller Liaison, Programming, and Website)
- John Faulds (Travel and Hotel Arrangements)
- Allan Hurst (Communications, Volunteers, and Fun Badge Tour)
- Victoria Macaw (Moral Support, and Gordon Macaw's favorite daughter)
The Shadow Committee's bid for 2017, while well-received, was beat out by the Palm Springs Swing & Mix committee.
However, in 2017, no clubs stepped forward to submit bids for 2021 and 2022, at which point Rick Hawes reactivated the Shadow Committee to put together what became winning bids for Houston 2021 and Minneapolis 2022.
In 2019, at Belles Run, the Shadow Committee submitted an Expression of Interest in bidding for 2023 in Portland, OR.
