CASSERO GAY LESBIAN CENTER PRESENTA
HOMOBEAT
club, tendenze, droghe, corpi
il contributo omosessuale alla scena dance
Cosa c'entra l'omosessualità con la musica e con i club? Molto,anzi moltissimo. Perchè il clubbing come stile di vita, la pista da ballocome “zona temporaneamente autonoma” nella quale sperimentare“politiche del corpo” liberate dalle costrizioni sociali del mondoesterno, ricercare modelli identitari e sessuali, nuovi codici di comportamentoconnessi a nuovi tipi di musica e di droghe ricreative (analogamente a movimenticontroculturali precedenti o posteriori, dagli hippy al glam al punk), nascenella New York dell’inizio anni 70, dall’incontro tra levolontà di ribellione e affermazione di minoranze fortemente penalizzate,come quelle latine ed afroamericane, e quella degli omosessuali. Locali come ilLoft, il Sanctuary, il Gallery, il Flamingo, cambiarono le modalità difruizione della musica (tutta la notte anziché due shake alternati a un“lento” come si usava in precedenza) e la musica stessa conl’invenzione del remix, e furono le loro comunità a battezzare lanascita del Vogueing come la mistica dei palestrati e la sottocultura leather;e, dopo i pionieri della Disco come Mancuso, Siano, Moulton, furono nuovi localicome il Paradise Garage, il Warehouse e l’Heaven e nuovi dj (ma semprerigorosamente gay) come Larry Levan e Frankie Knuckles a promuoverel’house music e l'hi energy, mentre di lì a poco acid ed ecstasyavrebbero spazzato di un’ondata di (a)sessualità androgina persinola più refrattaria scena rave inglese.
Da allora fino alle (con)fusioni di generi e gender di oggi, la creatività, l'innovazione, laprovocazione attraverso il travestimento, l'uso e l'abuso del concetto di dresscode, la ricerca e il consumo di sesso, sono rimaste modalità tipicamenteomosessuali di vivere l'aggregazione nei club, legando a doppio filo leespressioni migliori della cultura dance a quella della comunitàgay.
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HOMOBEAT
clubs, trends, drugs, bodies
the homosexual contribution to the dance scene
What does homosexuality have to do with music and clubs? A whole lotindeed. Clubbing became a lifestyle in New York at the beginning of the‘70s. It represented the coming together of the willingness to rebel andthe need to assert themselves of discriminated minorities, such as the Latin,African American and homosexual communities. The dance floor became a“temporary autonomous zone” where people could experiment with the“politics of the body” freed by the social constrictions of theoutside world, and where one could search for new models of identity andsexuality and new behavioural codes connected to new types of music and newrecreational drugs, in the same way that other preceding or subsequentcountercultural movements had done, from Hippies to Punk. Clubs such as theLoft, the Sanctuary, the Gallery and the Flamingo changed the way the music wasbeing enjoyed and consumed (with a beat carried through the night, instead oftwo fast tempo songs followed by a slow tune as was the previous custom) , andthey changed the music itself, with the invention of the remix. It was thecommunities attending these clubs who were responsible for Vogueing and for theleather subculture, and
after the Disco pioneers such as Mancuso, Siano,Moulton, it was new venues such as Paradise Garage, Warehouse and Heaven,and the new djs, (who were gay as their predecessors), such as Larry Levanand Franckie Knuckles, who promoted House Music and Hi Energy. Shortlyafter that, Acid and ecstasy would overflow even the most resistant British ravescene with a wave of androgynous sexuality. Since then, and up untiltoday’s genre and gender (con)fusion, the creativity, the innovation, theprovocation through drag, the use and abuse of the concept of dress code and thesearch and the consummation of sex, have remained typically homosexualmodalities for living the fruition of a club, closely linking the bestexpression of dance culture with the gay community.