I don’t know if it’s a gay thing or not—though the gay community certainly has a proclivity for it—but I do love a good theme. Whether titling my annual art show, a painting, or a party, I enjoy playing with concepts, words, and...of course, themes.

Back in 1988, none of us had any idea that we were creating an event that would still be around 17 years later. The idea was to turn an anniversary party for Steve [Elkins] and me into an AIDS fundraiser. It was to have been an outside pool party and dance and so the invitations called it "A Sun Dance," because, obviously, we were going to dance in the sun. I say "were" because it rained. No, not just rained, it poured. Fortunately I had added a tiny note to the bottom of the invitation before it went to the printer. "In case of unkind weather," it read, "please join us at The Strand, 137 Rehoboth Avenue for a Rain Dance." And thus it was (as legend goes) that with 18 hosts, and 200 guests, we danced the first Sundance in the rain—though safe and dry inside the three week old, newly opened (and now also legendary) bit of heaven called The Strand.

The following year, with the needs of the AIDS community growing greater with each passing day, we decided to do it again. It was an easy transition to move from A Sun Dance to Sundance 89, though this time we planned for it to be inside. In 1991, a sub-theme was added, Rainbow in the Sun, and the year after that, The Color of Light.

In 1994, I called it Sundance 1994: Hearts in the Sun—The Rainbow Party, and I remember thinking at the time that for now and ever after, Sundance should be tied to a rainbow theme. And thus (as the legend goes) it was and is and forever after shall be.

Now, follow me here (if you dare to enter the mind from whence cometh this seeming madness), back into one of those lovely little storylines that sometimes becomes apparent when we delve deep into the mysteries and magic moments that make life wonderful and keep it endlessly fascinating, and you too will see the delicate hands of destiny caressing this tale into existence. For is it not true that a rainbow is a result of the sun shining in the rain, and is it not also true that it could be said that the gay community has grown as a result of those terrible dark and stormy days when our family and friends and loved ones were ravaged by the demon AIDS. And thus it is (as the legend goes) that we found a way to dance out of the dark...to make the sun shine out of the rain...to make for ourselves a rainbow party that provides nourishment, not just to the AIDS community but to the whole community—gay and straight, men and women, young and old.

That period was a turning point for me, for many of us I think, and by the mid 1990s, new medications had slowed the dying and we lifted our eyes to look upon a different world—a different world reflected in the positive themes of each passing Sundance. Rainbow VIII: A Time to Dance; Rainbow Rites: Invocation to Dance; Rainbow Revival (jump, shout, hallelujah, jubilation in the house); Rainbow XI: Colors of Life; Rainbow Renaissance; The Super Duper Ultra Iridescent Rainbow Revolution; The Divine Order of the Wings of the Cosmic Rainbow; In the Celestial Circle of the Sunburst Rainbow; Heartbeat of the Silver Rainbow...and finally we come to this present moment...to this year’s Sundance 2004:The Radiant Rite of the Rainbow Revelation.

And just what exactly is the Rainbow Revelation, you might ask? It’s quite simple really—and it really is all about sunlight and rain—for when sunlight is separated by the rain, then we can see all the individual colors of which it is made. And though to us it may appear as only a few colors, in truth there exists a multitude of infinitesimally different shades and hues—more than the human eye can behold. The rainbow is a phenomenon of amazing order. It is the perfect symbol for diversity for it illustrates beautifully how that which is different can fit perfectly together in harmony to create something wonderful.

Longfellow’s oft quoted line "Into each life some rain must fall," comes suddenly to mind—and thank goodness, I would add—for without it we would not know the sun. Without it there would be no rainbow...and rainbows are, of course, the stuff of which legends are made.