Stud Country is bringing queer line-dancing and two-step lessons to Brooklyn

Line dancing is to most New Yorkers what a queer club might be to people living in rural Texas: Something they know exists in some far-off place but carries with it a tinge of discomfort. What a lot of people in this corner of the country don’t realize is that there is actually a rich tradition of queer clubs and line dancing converging—and there’s one collective determined to carry on that legacy. 

Stud Country was founded by Bailey Salisbury and Sean Monaghan, two friends who met in the punk scene at the California College of the Arts in Oakland. Together, they’ve created a wildly successful, nation-wide queer party where people can strap on their boots, learn how to line dance, and be surrounded by other queer people. Line dancing at Stud Country can happen to the sound of classic country songs, but it also happens to tracks by Britney Spears, Troye Sivan, and Ariana Grande.

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Salisbury and Monaghan started Stud Country in California, and since 2021, they’ve been throwing events in New York City—most prominently at the Brooklyn Bowl—several times a year. If you’re like me and aren’t completely sure what line dancing is, it’s essentially a choreographed dance that you do in a line and consists of steps you repeat in synchronicity with others around you. The electric slide and cha cha slides are types of line dances, but there are many other lineages and genres to the dance, including the more traditional, country-centered line dancing that Stud Country was founded on. 

When you go to a Stud Country event in New York, you can expect it to be a place to socialize, make friends and, per Salisbury and Monaghan, “get really sweaty.” You don’t need to know how to line dance already, but you definitely need to be eager about learning. They’ll guide you through two-step, how to partner dance, and if you decide you like it, you can come back again and again until you can call yourself a legit line dancer. 

There’s a whole queer lineage that’s been around for 40 years. We’re very connected to this history, a lot of people think it’s a novelty, but it’s not.

Line dancing became popular in clubs as early as the 1950s, and like most dance styles that involve any form of physical contact, it has a pretty rigid set of rules around gender. But queer line dancers throughout the country have been quietly subverting the genre for years. According to some sources, the queer obsession with line dancing began around the '80s and '90s, when tracks like “Achy Breaky Heart” brought country music into the cities where a lot of queer people congregated. “There’s a whole queer lineage that’s been around for 40 years,” Monaghan tells Time Out. “We’re very connected to this history, a lot of people think it’s a novelty, but it’s not.”

Although it might not seem like it for those of us who don’t know much about line dancing, it can actually be a pretty sexy genre. You build up tension and rapport while dancing in synchronicity with other people, and the tension climaxes when you choose a partner to dance with. But beyond the physicality of it all, queer line dancing can be a spiritual way for people to stay connected to their heritage without having to perpetuate gender roles that don’t feel authentic to them.

Salisbury and Monaghan want to continue the legacy of queer line dancing because they found so much of themselves and their own community there. The previous generation of line dancers are getting older and some of the queer clubs that were central to the line dancing community have been shut down. In fact, the closure of Oil Can Harry’s, the oldest gay club in L.A., is part of what prompted Salisbury and Monaghan to start Stud Country. They feel the responsibility to create an intergenerational space that honors the experience of queer elders, while also launching line dancing in the queer community into a new era that feels fresh. “We wanted to dig up the history and find the dances,” Salisbury said. “We wanted to create a space where our friends would also come to and not feel weird.”

Like many genres that are rooted in some sort of tradition, line dancing’s survival is contingent on its willingness to change with the times. So while you’ll hear all the classic country songs, you’ll also get contemporary country, '90s country, alternative rock, and iconic gay club songs. Part of Stud Country’s goal is to show people how expansive line dancing can actually be. Talking to Salisbury and Monaghan, I get the sense that the sky's the limit. 

Of course, I had to ask if they think Beyonce’s newest album Cowboy Carter will bring a resurgence of line dancing in queer communities. Although they can’t say for sure, they said that it might re-invigorate younger people to try it out and that they’re already starting to see more interest from queer people of color who want to learn how to line dance.

But beyond any fads, Stud Country wants to tear down notions of what line dancing should be. “At Stud Country, you get to choose what you do,” Monaghan says.

Stud Country’s next event in New York will be on April 30 at the Brooklyn Bowl. You can check out their full calendar and other updates on their website, or you can follow them on Instagram.