See
http://www.iagsdchistory.org/historywiki/index.php?title=Gender_Rolesfor a discussion of gender roles and gender terminology in general, and use in the LGBTQ* clubs that make up the IAGSDC in particular.
Boys/Girls, Gents/Ladies, Men/Women are used very interchangeably in MWSD.
Belles/Beaus DO NOT mean the same thing (see above article and CALLERLAB definitions).
To my knowledge there are no MWSD clubs that use truly non-gendered terms. Upwards of 99.9% of callers would not be able to easily call to such a group, nor would such dancers be able to travel anywhere else and dance.
So to my question: How do the dancers identify which roles the other people are dancing? Traditionally this is done with dancers taking the opposite role to their gender wearing bands, but that is surely inappropriate if the dance is GF.
Dancers dance their own part. Period. Full stop. Most dancers are somewhat capable of tracking the arrangement of dancers within the ever changing formations of MWSD. If a caller says "boys u-turn back", a dancer only has to know their own gender role. If a caller says "centers trade" a dancer only has to know their own position, and determine who is the other center. If a caller says "boys trade" a boy dancer must determine who is the "other boy" they must work with (not that different from the centers example). If dancers aren't 100% sure who that person is, they will self-identify (calling out "boy!") while the other boys do the same, thus knowing who they must trade with. This works very smoothly in practice and is not a problem.
Hope that helps!
Andy Shore
contra and MWSD caller
CALLERLAB member
past president Gay Callers Association