Dancing to new heights

If there is one thing the Sydney Gay Games can truthfully be accused of, it is bringing same-sex dancing to a new audience.

Since the success of the film Strictly Ballroom and the huge dancing segment of the Olympic Games closing ceremony, ballroom dancing has become a part of mainstream Australian culture.

However, it was the swirling beauty and fierce competition that took place at the Town Hall in 2002 that changed the fate of Sydney’s same-sex ballroom dancing scene.

Last year’s Mardi Gras Same Sex Dance Spectacular attracted a crowd of 400 spectators to watch 40 couples take to the floor in all their finery. This year’s event organisers, being held this weekend in the larger capacity Botany RSL Club, say the event is on the verge of selling out.

Last year we had the shock of our lives with the number of people who showed up -“ they kept coming through the doors, Virginia Binning, co-organiser of the Same Sex Dance Spectacular, says.

Thirty couples from Sydney as well as Melbourne and Byron Bay have signed up, to compete in dance styles including foxtrot, Latin American, freestyle Latin, Argentina tango and New Vogue.

Leanne Bampton, one of the star dancers from TV’s ballroom dancing hit Dancing With The Stars, will be a guest judge.

Binning is a veteran of 44 years of dancing, while her partner Ruth still takes part in the competition. Binning is organising the event with business partner David Rooney, her co-principal of the studio DanceDance with Hot to Foxtrot.

She says the dancers taking part are predominantly female couples, but there have been some changes in recent years.

The guys are now coming out of the woodwork, she says. We have wondered about this -“ why we have more women than men taking part. We think it has something to do with the fact that while girls have been able to dance together all their lives, for gay guys to get together and dance is a very different thing.

People dance for so many reasons. You get a core of them who want to do competitions, and then others who do it strictly for fun. Some people want to exercise and get along to meet other people.

But no matter why they are there to dance, most of them end up falling in love with it.

Same Sex Dance Spectacular is on Saturday 24 February at Botany RSL Club, 1,421 Botany Rd, Botany. Bookings on 9559 6330 and 9150 8222.