Urban cowgirls of all stripes are invited to saddle up and hoe down with Texas Rose, a queer women's, trans-inclusive community for women who love women and who love to Texas Two-Step. Texas Rose offers monthly parties, birthday celebrations, theme nights and dance instructions in both Oakland and San Francisco.
Texas Rose isn't just a place to dance, it's a venue for women to make friends and create community.
"Texas Rose is the one dance event that keeps me coming back," Wen Minkoff, a happy dancer, said in an interview. "Part of it is the music and part of it is the wide variety of people I've met there. It's such a positive and fun atmosphere, everyone is truly friendly."
Minkoff added that Texas Rose welcomes people at all levels of dance. "I like that I can bring my non-dancer or very beginner friends and they have a great time," she said. "The basic steps are easy enough to pick up and the fact that the crowd is there to have a good time doesn't hurt either. There's something for everyone."
Texas Rose operates as a non-profit. Cheryl Rosenthal spoke of the organization's mission. She noted the huge popularity of country and western music and dance.
"Lesbian women and transgendered people are commonly denied opportunities to learn about and experience country western dancing, as they are unwelcome at most venues which offer it," Rosenthal said. "Texas Rose provides a safe place for people of that community to engage in and learn American country western dancing and related art forms. Country and Western is easier to learn than genres with more complicated steps, such as tango or ballroom, and it has particular roots in our history and heritage as Americans."
The goal of Texas Rose, according to Rosenthal, is to pass that heritage along, especially within the lesbian and transgender communities. Rosenthal said that their community was diverse, with a variety of races, ages and gender identities represented.
Rosenthal spoke of what draws her to the country and western genre.
Early evening lessons at a recent Texas Rose Dance night. photo: courtesy Texas Rose Dance
"It's an incredibly fun way to meet new friends create community and get some exercise," she said. "The atmosphere is warm, friendly, and non-judgmental. It is not a pick-up scene; you can safely ask anyone to dance without worrying that they'll think you have more than dancing in mind. This doesn't mean that lots of folks haven't found love at Texas Rose. They sure have! But there is no social pressure, and that's what people love."
Leave attitude at the door, Rosenthal advises.
"Our parties are a high energy, fun, friendly no attitude event," she said. "We average about 100 people a night. The distinction between our parties and other queer parties is that our has a full range of age and gender-expression diversity. Birkenstock lesbians, young genderqueer folks, gender fluids, trans, butches, femmes, dykes, leather daddies, old and young and in between, all together having a good time. Everyone is encouraged to dance with everyone and to ask others to dance."
Rosenthal said that a short dance etiquette speech is given at the end of dance lessons and at the start of dance parties.
"It sets the tone for the evening as a friendly, welcoming space," she said. "If there's an uneven number of people in a lesson and someone is left without a partner, a volunteer steps in to make it work. We also rotate partners during the lesson, so that everyone has a chance to dance with lots of new people."
Dress codes are optional. You can come in your cowgirl duds or wear whatever makes you comfortable.
Learning partnering positions at a recent Texas Rose Dance night. photo: courtesy Texas Rose Dance
"This is a trans-inclusive queer woman's community, so we don't call it a woman's only dance," Rosenthal said. "But as an oppressed minority community we still believe that we need our own space sometime. Women's bars have disappeared, so this is one of the few venues left for members of the women's community to enjoy as their own space. Many of us also like to dance with our gay male friends and we frequent and support those venues as well. But one a month we like to have our own space."
The next Texas Rose Dance event is December 12, at Lake Merritt Dance Center, 200 Grand Ave., Oakland. $5-$10. 6:30pm lessons. Dancing and social time until 11pm. (510) 504-2176. www.texasrosedance.com