![]() ![]() ![]() Rain Country gives dancers control over what and how we dance.” Dancers, including co-founder Jim Drew (front, red shirt) pose for the camera at Rain Country’s 2009 Pride Sunday dance at the Armory in Seattle Center.Īfter eighteen months of planning and the closure of the new Timberline location in 2005, Jim and a group of dancers, instructors, and deejays created the completely volunteer-led Rain Country Dance Association in 2006. If you leave it up to a business that isn’t invested in the dancing side of things, then you are at their mercy. “We need to get off our collective butt and work to build the local CW dance scene.”Īsked about it now, Jim says, “If you want a ‘community’ you have to create the structure for community to build from. “We’ve lost some of the ‘dance community’ we once had in Seattle,” he admonished. The dance culture that had made the bar so special struggled to retain its vibrancy amidst the transition.Īt that point, Jim Drew grew tired of waiting for someone else to solve the problem and sent a rabble-rousing email to a local country-western listserv one Saturday in April 2004. “It was like having a party without needing to clean your house, or going to a party that you didn’t have to get ready for.”Īfter 15 years of serving a tight-knit community of dancers, the Timberline had to move from its original location in 2003. “It’s really where I learned how to be a lesbian,” Barb explains. You’ll think you died and went to country-western heaven.”įor Barb Buys, the first person to greet you at any Rain Country event today, the Timberline was an essential part of her coming of age in the 1990s. lang on the sound system, maple on the spacious circa-1913 dance floor, pails of peanuts on the bar and wagon-wheel chandeliers in the rafters. As The Seattle Times described this gay bar in a 1990 review, “There’s Patsy Cline and k.d. ![]() The Beginnings of Rain Countryĭuring the country western dance craze that swept the country in the wake of Urban Cowboy and “Achy Breaky Heart” in the 1980s and 1990s, Seattle became home to the Timberline Tavern. The power of Rain Country is in the joy you’ll find on everyone’s face. Rain Country embodies the grassroots, cooperative, and welcoming spirit of our city in unique, magical, and ever-evolving ways. We are invested in this community and the documentation of its place in Seattle’s queer history. More specifically, we (Jean, Katie, and Barb) are some of those friendly faces you’ll see on the dance floor. “It was the most welcoming family we’ve run into in Seattle.” Chris, a Rain Country dancer Newcomers and old-timers alike are united in our love of dance and our commitment to creating a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive community. This is Rain Country Dance Association, Seattle’s nonprofit dance club for the LGBTQ+ community and friends for over 17 years. The lights are lower, the outfits are on fire, and the joy is palpable. Many of the same familiar faces are two-stepping and waltzing around the dance floor at the Century Ballroom just a mile south of the church. ![]() Others add elaborate arm movements and improvised styling as if starring in a dramatic soap opera.įast-forward to Friday night. Soon 30 or more people are laughing and smiling as they move across the floor in lines, executing a complex series of steps and turns in all directions. The twang of country music fills the air. LGBTQ+ Country Dancing – A Radical Act of Inclusivity by Jean Anton, Barb Buys, and Katie GustainisĮvery Tuesday evening in the heart of Capitol Hill on Broadway, a group of folks spanning the spectrums of age, race, gender, and sexuality warmly greet each other inside All Pilgrims Church. Read the LGBTQ+ Seattle Histories stories and then delve into the full project. In honor of PRIDE month, we asked community members to submit stories specific to the history of Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community. These stories, told by community members, emphasize experiences and narratives that may have been overlooked or misrepresented in our city. The Seattle Histories storytelling project highlights the places, people, and events that have shaped the history of Seattle’s communities. Historic preservation in Seattle begins with community. ![]()
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