Steps & Spells

I just got back from a gathering of queer percussive dancers and even though I’m still somewhat reeling (that’s a pun), I figured I should write down some thoughts before I lose them.

If “queer percussive dance” sounds pretty niche, I suppose it is. Queer people aren’t a majority group. Percussive dance (which encompasses but is not limited to forms such as tap dance, clogging, flatfoot, folklorico, sean nos, etc.) seems fairly common across the world’s cultures (at least from my own observation), but I’d hazard that non-percussive dances are still more common.

So, anyway, there we were. A small (<20) group of percussive dances of various types, of various backgrounds, all of us queer, gathered in the woods of North Carolina for a three-day series of workshops, talks, and whatever else we wanted.

This whole thing was unlike any dance “workshop” I’d ever been to before. For one, it wasn’t expensive. I went on a scholarship, but even for those who paid, the cost was relatively low and only covered food and lodging. Dance festivals and conferences can be pretty spendy, but this one was originally relatively very affordable (and then it ended up being free by the final day because we received some donations that covered everyone’s room/board).

The classes didn’t cost anything, because it was all participant-led. Some dancers led discussions, some taught choreography or technique, some did something in between. I used my one-hour slot to give everyone time to create poetry-dance collaborations and present their work at the end.

In the evenings, we had various events. One night there was a jam. Another, we presented work and received feedback. On the final night, we had a party and stayed up too late. 🙂

The thing is, none of it was really mandatory. We could go to whatever workshops we wanted or not. We could go to the events or not. You could honestly just jam and sleep if that’s what you wanted to do. The only aspects of the gather that were required were 1) showing up for a few kitchen shifts to cook and clean, 2) using good safety practices and daily testing given the possibility of COVID, 3) obviously, being respectful of the other participants.

There was something really freeing about this. For one, being able to self-actualize every day was so good. One of the organizers, Nic Gareiss, said (to paraphrase) that there are enough demands of queer people already and we weren’t going to add more as a part of this gathering.

It was so good to go to workshops when I wanted, or to go jam with other dancers in the main hall, or to go jam alone in the outdoor amphitheater, or to go back to my room to read, or whatever. Being entirely in the moment and making decisions right then felt correct on a deep level. The way modern/capitalist/industrial life treats people like cogs in a machine is pretty shit and any chance to avoid that is great. I feel really lucky to have been able to go to this whole gathering.

In another way, it was freeing just to be around queer people (and by extension, a lot of neurodivergence, given the correlation between queerness and neurodivergence).

Like.

To spend three days as myself, unmasked, in front of large groups is something that happens so rarely. I might have friends or partners who I can experience that with, but to do it for so many hours of the day, in front of groups, is something I don’t think I’ve experienced before.

Groups make me nervous, for one. Heh. And then, with a group it’s difficult to know that everyone in the group is going to be cool with unmasking, so I have to settle for the least common denominator of wearing the mask.

But not for these three days! For three days, I could be ALL WEIRD ALL THE TIME. And, there were a lot of other dancers who were also REAL WEIRD and I love them for that.

I haven’t even written about the dancing itself, and maybe I’ll write another post about that, but for now I just wanted to get these thoughts out of my head and into the internet ether.

Meeting everyone at this event was the best part. Having a brief three days to actually relax and be myself, and to welcome others for who they are, was this tiny glimpse into how the world could be, and how it should be.

I want to just carry this around with me for a long time (forever, even?). I want this hope and contentment to reflect back into my actions and onto the people around me, and maybe make the world over here a bit more like those three days in the woods.

Stay weird, friends. 💜🏳️‍🌈