It happened again. For the second year in a row, my colleagues and I have organized an LGBTQIA+ Valentine's dance at the community college I teach at in the South Bronx. There were about 80 people in the room — an unheard-of turnout at a commuter campus — and only six of them were dancing to the hip-hop blasting at ear-shattering volume from the PA.
Until the DJ threw on "Cupid Shuffle."
Suddenly, the dance floor's population tripled as students, staff, faculty — hell, even the Public Safety officers — mobbed the floor. They stayed up for another few line dances like the "Electric Slide" and, of course, Chappell Roan and Lady Gaga. But as soon as the DJ brought it back to music intended for pelvic thrusting? There might as well have been tumbleweeds out there.
That this happened two years running reminded me of a recent, seismic force in LGBTQIA+ nightlife: line dancing nights. Stud Country — which operates in New York and LA — the premiere queer line dancing party has inspired offshoots throughout the US and around the world.
