The Circle Dance

The Circle Dance at GTU's 20th Birthday Party, February 1998

The Circle Dance is a group dance performed to the song "American Pie" (Don McLean's version, not Madonna's!) at virtually every GTU social event. Arms wrapped over shoulders, we and our guests sing, sway, kick, and do "waves" together. The Circle Dance version of the song contains some GTU-specific editions, like the addition of "and greens" to the lyrics "I met a girl who sang the blues..." (GTU's colors are kelly green and navy blue.) It's fun, it's good exercise, and it's one of our oldest and most treasured traditions.

Just how the tradition of the Circle Dance originated is not clear. Some believe that the first Circle Dance arose spontaneously at GTU's 8th Birthday Party in 1986. Others attest that GTUs were dancing in circles to "American Pie" much earlier, in 1983. Either way, the tradition seems tracable back to Susie Kaufhold (C'86) and her future husband, Don Copeland (C'86). Beckee Morrison (C'90) remembers: "'American Pie' was Susie Kaufhold and Don Copeland's song, so it was played at every GTU event." As to the evolution of the tradition after its founding, she adds: "I think it was probably in 1987 that we started yelling out things like 'Yea Marx!' or 'Yea God!'"