The coolest new LGBTQ spot in Toronto isn’t a bar, or a club, but an old army navy hall, affectionately known as the Owl’s Club. Every Sunday night, queer cuties and their ally pals stampede down the stairs and into the basement space to gather together and … line-dance? That’s right, y’all: line-dancing is back.
Spurs is the brainchild of “Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent” star Kathleen Munroe. Down in L.A., friends had been pestering her to check out Stud Country, a local queer line-dance event. When Munroe eventually did, she says it was magical. “I was immediately drawn in by the community and, unexpectedly, by line dancing. I don’t always gravitate toward organized fun and have no meaningful dance background,” says Munroe. “The most I can usually do is quietly marvel at people doing choreography on dance floors. The spirit of line dance — a type of social dance — is open, it’s absolutely not rigid; it’s more about sharing space than perfecting moves. And it looks so cool, too.”
That first night, Munroe and her wife, Sophie, went home at midnight, cleared the coffee table from the living room and just kept dancing. She was hooked.
When Munroe returned to Toronto, she found fun queer events and fun country-inspired events, but nothing that embodied the spirit she missed. So she joined up with a few folks to start a special night in Montreal, then another in Toronto at the Owl’s Club. Spurs was an immediate hit; the very first event was over capacity, and the Toronto iteration celebrates its one-year anniversary this July.
“We’ve lost so many queer spaces as rent has skyrocketed in Toronto,” says Munroe. “I miss the Beaver. I miss The Henhouse. The pandemic was hard on small businesses. Recognizing the widely shared desire for queer community was the most extraordinary part of the early days of Spurs.”
Veronique Beaudet quickly became a regular at Spurs; she loved it so much she signed on to help run the event. (Most of Munroe’s collaborators, in fact, started as Spurs regulars then became co-collaborators.) “I’ve found I can always rely on spaces that are intentionally queer to create the most joyful and non-judgmental rooms, and that’s where real unbridled self-expression can happen in artistic practices like dancing and singing,” says Beaudet. “It’s so healing to be line dancing in a queer space where you can trust that everyone is there to celebrate standing out and being unique instead of making every dance move look exactly like everyone else’s.”
Spurs features a combination of classic country line dances, contemporary line dances and original choreography. “We pair old dances with new songs on occasion to keep it fresh. Lately, we’ve been dancing a classic, The Chicago Stomp, to Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso.’ We cover all genres of music. We’re making our way through ‘Cowboy Carter.’ We also do some partner dancing, the two-step, to everything from Patsy Cline to Shania Twain to k.d. lang.”
“Beginners will absolutely be able to jump in for the lessons and follow-alongs, and the social vibe is great throughout. I lean into the fact that I’m not a dancer. If I can do this, anyone can,” Munroe says. “I can’t count the number of people who’ve shown up saying ‘I can’t dance’ and leave exhausted from spinning around the floor. Learning together is a bonding experience. I can be quite shy; it was so meaningful to meet so many people through line dancing.” Tutorials are available on the Spurs Instagram page.
As Munroe points out, the event isn’t just fun — it’s an act of resistance. “We draw on traditions that have often been very straight, very white, and sometimes hostile to difference, like country western culture, misogynistic music, and cowboy settler culture. We’re not cosplaying John Wayne; we’re queering archetypes. I like to think about what Vag Halen, the iconic Toronto cover band, does with cock-rock: it’s not about mindlessly participating in a problematic tradition; it’s about seeing what can be learned by changing its parameters.”
Spurs can also help build queer community or, says Beaudet, even find potential paramours in a refreshingly wholesome way. “A lot of gay bars in the city are just that — bars — meaning that there isn’t much to do besides drink! Having a line-dance lesson or two makes it feel like a much more structured night than just standing around in a room with a glass in your hand.”
It’s also common to see people helping each other out with learning the moves during a lesson. “it’s such a sweet small way that I see people taking care of each other. It leads to the beginning of a lot of friendships.”
For Pride month, Spurs has partnered with Steers and Queers for two Pride parties, and they have their one-year anniversary party happening June 20. They’ll be at Ottawa’s Capital Pride in August, and will host all events all summer in Montreal.
“The heart and soul of the event is the ground-up energy that gets created every week, the small moments on the floor. Seeing connections being made — and watching community grow,” says Munroe. “Honestly, I look forward to scuffing up the gorgeous wooden floors at the hall every week, and hope to for a very long time.”
