Cleveland, Ohio – The couple on the dancefloor samba-ed round the room, hips shaking, torridly embracing amidst their intricate footwork.
Ballroom dancing has come back into the spotlight in the last decade, from TV to tours to competitions.
But this isn’t your grandmother’s dance class. The couple on the floor are both men, part of a growing community of competitive same-sex ballroom dancing.
The pastime – or sport, as many view it – is growing worldwide. Perhaps the biggest showcase is at the International Gay Games, in which it’s a medal competition for both men and women.
Same-sex dancing is the subject of a new documentary, “Hot to Trot,” by Gail Freedman. The film’s penultimate scene take place at the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland – a breathtaking, drama-filled competition.
But “Hot to Trot” is about more than just competing, because same-sex dancing is about more than just dancing.
As one senior citizen dancer says: “This might be the last bastion of homophobia. It’s a vertical expression of a horizontal desire.” In other words, in can make even “woke” people uncomfortable.
The dancers Freedman follows don’t care. They just want to dance – with the gender they desire. Many of them have overcome severe obstacles to get to the dance floor.
Ernesto was a meth addict, and his first dance partner quit when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Russian emigre Nikolai only recently came out to his traditional family. Emily is a severe lifelong Type 1 diabetic, who wears an insulin pump, even when dancing. New Zealander Kieren is struggling to balance her job in the tech field with dance, and her conservative background.
For all of them, dancing is more than an activity, it gives meaning to their life.
As Ernesto says, when two men dance together, there is no natural leader or follower; each partner needs to find balance and take turns leading, and being led. There is no leader part, no follower part, just parts, Emily and Kieren add.
In many ways, as a scene in the Cleveland Museum of Art atrium suggests, these same-sex couples are more creative than their mixed-gender counterparts – because they need to be. For them, dance is both a personal and political expression, one of great passion.
This content was originally published here.
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