February
August
2004
August
Top
of the charts
“…Robbie McGowan Hickie is a force to be reckoned with. He… is fervent in his belief in the future of Line. “You see it every week. The pleasure and enjoyment this thing brings to single people particularly.
“It’s a life line and I’m glad to be involved in it.”
Robbie dismisses idle talk of a “split” in line dancing. “It’s a non-starter. There’s plenty for everyone in terms of music today and I hope to be part of it for a long time yet! “When I fi rst started out in the mid 1990s you would hear well known instructors advising that Line dancing was “here today, gone tomorrow” and yet here we are in 2004 moving along nicely.” … (February 2004 – Page 38)
Which came first – the Stetson or the steps? Dominic Joseph thinks dressing up as cowboys is just a guy thing 6
I
like dressing up as a cowboy – I’ll admit it. I love the jeans, the belt and the Stetson. Having said that, I love all sorts of hats: I love my Panama for strolling through the park on a hot day, and my trilby for embarrassing nephews when collecting them from school. And it’s not just hats. I love slip- ping into a suit – easy way to look and feel smart – and if I’m out for a boogie it’s anything black:
John Wayne in Dark Command
December
With Maureen O’Hara in Rio Grande October 2004 Cowboy capers
So is that it then? Do middle-aged men enjoy dressing up – either as cowboys or disco bun- nies – simply because it transports us back to an era when men were men or to that time, too long ago, when we were younger, slim- mer and had fewer nasal hairs?
Jon Womersley of Regalos Western Wear in Blackpool sells clothes to all sorts of people, from serious Westerners through to “church hall Line dancers”.
“A lot of the guys we speak to have always wanted to live that sort of life,” says Jon. “And, of course, who didn’t play Cowboys and Indians when they were kids? The Westerners have special clothing for these roundups – they screw them up, throw them in a bag and never wash them. I knew of one guy who bought a pair of long-johns and he buried them in his garden for three months to make them look authentic.
“But it’s the same as any hobby. I have a friend who’s a lawyer and every weekend he dresses up as a First World War soldier. The Westerners are the same – they’ll go away for a whole weekend and live the life. It’s a tough job trying to pinpoint why – it’s like any hobby. Why does anyone do it?
“When Line dancing fi rst started in the UK everyone thought it was new and the West- erners had been doing it 50 to 60 years in Britain. The Westerners found it hilarious because the Line dancers thought they were the fi rst and they’d been doing it for years.”
Of course, the Westerners are wearing one of the uniforms so common on the gay scene, from Manchester’s Canal Street, through Christopher Street in Hamburg to San Francisco’s Castro district. The cowboy – as caricatured by the Village People – is one of those macho role models which many men aspire to and some long for. Guys like dress- ing up, playing a part. Be honest, how many of you would just love to wear a policeman’s uniform for a day?
If Jon Womersley is selling his customers something of a fantasy, then that fantasy can be traced back at least to the 1940s when John Wayne rode across our screens as
the Cavalry offi cer whose aim was to beat off the Apaches on the Mexican bor- der while managing to fi t in at least one clinch with Mau- reen O’Hara on the way.
John Wayne is the ultimate macho hero, second only, perhaps, to Mont- gomery Clift. He was the symbol of the rugged indi- vidualism people have come to as- sociate with the Western. His ca- reer spans nearly 250 movies and he holds the record for the ac- tor with the most leading roles – 142 in total. His trademark Stetson is kept in a glass case in Hollywood.
‘I knew of one guy who bought a pair of long-johns and he buried them in his garden for three months to make them look authentic’
A quarter of a century after Wayne’s death, Universal pictures are releasing his movies in DVD box sets. Wayne Out West includes cow- boy classics: War Wagon, Rooster Cogburn, Angel and Badman, Dark Command and Tall in the Saddle. The Cavalry Trilogy comprises She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande and Fort Apache. Two more box sets are Wayne at War and Wayne in Action. All the sets are released on 8 November with a complete col- lection available later in the month. And the cowboys in Wayne Out West Line dance, that is they dance while standing in something approximating a line.
September
black makes you look slimmer so the blacker the better. The jeans are still as fi gure-hugging. The fi gure is expanding in all the wrong directions but they still make me feel good and, if the music’s right, I can dance my way back to my teens. As my friend, Tony, screeches above the Nolans, the Dooleys and Gloria Gaynor: “Don’t look in the mirrors – as long as you don’t look in the mirrors we’re 16 again.”
We all played cowboys and indians when we were kids 7
Dressing Up “…Jon Womersely of Regalos
The monthly magazine dedicated to Line dancing October 2004 – £2.50
TIFT MERRITT Tambourine Girl
ANNE NOLAN Still reelin’ and rockin’
BOYS WILL BE COWBOYS
Why do we enjoy dressing up? 9 771366 650024 14 DANCES INCLUDING KATE SALA’S ‘A DEVIL IN ME’ AND A COWBOY BLAST FROM THE PAST
Western Wear in Blackpool sells clothes to all sorts of people, from serious Westerners through to “Church hall Line dancers”. “A lot of the guys we speak to have always wanted to live that sort of life,” says Jon…The Westerners have special clothing, for these roundups – they screw them up, throw them in a bag and never wash them. I knew of one guy who bought a pair of long-johns and he buried them in his garden for three months to make them look authentic.” Maggie Gallagher who has been teaching Line dancing for exactly ten years says fewer Line dancers are wearing Western wear these days….” It’s just like anything else in life – things move on and evolve.. I have had to accept that Line dance has become a form of dance people are putting more style into…” (October 2004 – Page 9)
Cover 93 - October 10
A prize for the one of our oddest covers…John Wayne ? Really? Nice moody shot but considering it was about a feature saying on the main people were not dressing up anymore, it posed the question as to why it had been selected in the fi rst place!
Chocolate or Vanilla?
“….We as teachers (Mick Shann wrote the feature) take the step sheet and teach the dance as it has been choreographed.
The dance is thus danced as “vanilla”, that means nothing has been added or amended to the original dance script. In a competitive situation you are normally required to dance the fi rst two walls as “vanilla” to demonstrate your knowledge of the dance. From the start of the third wall you are allowed to encompass variations into the dance – to add “Chocolate”….. I have seen countless times when dancers have stopped dancing, being put off when “Chocolate” has been added, even in the Line of dance….
(November 2004 – Page 14)
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