Dancing hard and fast

Alison Jiear may have found fame and fortune in the UK, but her voice is known in gay bars around the world thanks to the song I Just Want To Fucking Dance.

The dancefloor diva, who was classically trained at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and has provided backing vocals for the likes of Robbie Williams, Kylie, and Will Young, is expected to be the highlight of this year’s Mardi Gras party when she takes to the stage to perform the iconic tune.

I can’t wait because I’ve never done Mardi Gras before. I’ve watched many parades in the past before but I’ve never actually performed there -” it’s really a lifelong ambition, she said.

It’s such a celebration and I think for me they use the term -˜gay icon’. And I take my role as a gay icon very seriously. And I loved that my dance track had such an amazing success, despite never being released. It’s been so successful in the underground.

I’m so proud that the gay community loves this song … I love that the song has given people so much joy. I know it sounds cliched but it really is an anthem and makes you get up.

Jiear will head back to Australia in April when Jerry Springer: The Opera visits the Sydney Opera House for a short season.

My dad said to me -˜Are they going to calm down the language?’ and I said -˜No, Dad, they’re going to be standing there going -˜what the fucking fuck fuck’ in an eight part harmony, she laughed.

The first half is like watching the Jerry Springer television show live on stage with every type of trailer trash you could possibly want. You’ve got a transvestite, a man who likes to wear nappies, you got a woman who wants to be a baby.

I play a pole dancer [who sings I Just Want to Fucking Dance] and my redneck husband goes to lap dance clubs and she feels that it’s the only way to get his love.

The second half is breathtaking and the music is incredible because it really is an opera. I remember when I saw the script, I thought -˜I can’t play this’. But the audience loved it and it’s surreal. I’ve never said the c-word on stage before, and I’ve never played a pole dancer in leather with a split in the crotch.

info: Tickets to the Mardi Gras party are available through Ticketek at ticketek.com.au or call 132 849. For a longer interview with Alison Jiear see fg.