Excerpt from an ethnography on geek dance

Rusty Con is the Seattle area Sci-Fi Fantasy convention. There are many conventions that are related to Rusty, Rusty is the most localized of the conventions for the Seattle area, the next level up is NorWesCon, and the one up from there is WesterCon. These conventions are loosely affiliated, but have strong bonds both in the people who come, and those who run them.

There are many things that convention goers expect from the Convention Dance, no matter what level, or where you are in the US. Latex outfits, leather outfits, and Cosplay are expected, recently Steam Punk joined the usual attire to be seen at convention dances. But as this is a dance certain songs being played are more important than any other aspect of the dance, and the DJ must make sure to time the playing of these songs, so they are not too close together, nor so far apart that convention goers are too enticed to leave to go to the room parties. The most important songs on this list are “Rasputin” by Boney M, “Burning Time”, and “When you’re evil” by Voltaire.

The song that seems to have formed the most structural culture at the conventions is “Rasputin”. In a previous ethnography I asked Andrew, a good friend from Russia, about this song.

I have never heard the song "Rasputin" by Boney-M prior to arriving to the US, and I only heard it here when I went to my first Sci-Fi convention. Most of my friends knew of my heritage, and I was surprised that they expected me to recognize the song immediately. Most of them were taken aback when I mentioned I have never heard the song before, and didn't know of the band that sung it. Apparently, in their minds, any song that mentions Russia or Russians should be greatly popular in Russia itself. The song does not illicit any particular emotion - I like the beat, and I find the lyrics somewhat humorous. The dance that goes with the song at conventions made me laugh at first, and the realization that my American friends thought that's how all Russian dance made me laugh even more. Overall, I think the song is a nice Sci-Fi convention tradition, and I'm happy to kick my feet up a couple of times if it makes my American friends giggle with delight.

Convention goers had taken aspects of what they thought was Russian culture, which it is in fact Ukrainian dance, mixed with bits of American culture top create the basics of the dance. The dance to this is both very communal, with everyone in a circle with their arm behind their neighbors back, and yet very much a show of skill, with those wanting to show their dancing prowess going into the center of the circle.

While America is considered a Christian country by many, in geek circles the less traditional religions are more the norm. In a nod to this another song that no convention dance can get away with not playing is “Burning Times”. This is less a communal dance, and more a dance where people who practice any aspect of Wicca show their connection to Mother Earth, and the ways they do this can sometimes be very obvious, and other times very obscure. No matter the how or the why behind the movements, they mean something powerful and important to the dancer.