Hundreds gather to square dance this weekend in Palm Springs

Hundreds of people from around the world converged on the Palm Springs Convention Center this weekend. This is the 34th year dancers gathered for the LGBT Square Dance Convention.

“Its a really wonderful time to see people you haven’t seen for a year. It’s like a family reunion,” said Evan Auberry, from Sacramento.

If you’re wondering what’s the difference between square dancing and LGBT square dancing, there’s an easy answer.

“We are a little different from straight square dancing because we dance casually, as you can see from my clothing. We dance to contemporary music. We don’t care if you are married or single. In many straight clubs you have to be a couple. In gay square dancing it’s made up of eight people, so anyone can come and dance with us,” said Allan Hurst, from Sunnyvale.

Square dance clubs from Colorado, New York and even Japan visiting Palm Springs for the annual convention.

“Square dancing is really a subculture. There are people that really strive to find the best places to go square dancing. Square dancing is taught in levels that go up to 9 or 10 levels and they get more complex. And since we’ll be offering square dancing at all the levels, we attract people from all over to come square dance with us,” said Gary Dougan the chair of the organizing committee.

Palm Springs Mayor Robert Moon welcomed the international crowd. He said he’s happy to see this many people in town in the hot summer months.

“Look at the restaurants, they’re all busy right now. And we’ve got Comic Con in August. We’ve got lots of fun things coming in the summer time,” Moon said.

If you ever wondered what square dancing was all about you’re encouraged to stop by.

“We’d love people to come down and watch us for free. Any of the halls and you can learn to do this anyone can,” Hurst said.

All events are open to the public and continue through the weekend.