Slow Dance Night

THE LAST POSTING HERE!

2011-08-11T14:54:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!

So, I have been doing a lot of different events recently.
Strip Spelling Bee.
Slowdance Night.
Crowd Karaoke.
And other crazier things, like Cardboard Fort Night.

But having all these various blogs to cater to each particular
event is kinda insane.

So this will be the last posting here.
If you want to keep up with all my future events,
you can do one of two things!

Visit http://janesheisaclerk.blogspot.com/ monthly.
Or, "LIKE" my event Facebook group, Chat Perdu Productions.

Thank you all for visiting and for coming!

Two Slowdances in the Next Two Weeks!

2011-05-25T05:07:00.000-07:00

We have two Slowdances coming up in the next 2 weeks! Which is a little crazy, but also a lot of fun.

(1) TORONTO SLOWDANCE!
First up, in TORONTO, an early summer edition on Saturday, May 28th.
Dovercourt house
805 Dovercourt Rd. (1 block North of Bloor, 3 blks. west of Ossington)
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Doors at 9:00, Dance from 9:30 PM - 2 AM.
$10 admission includes your Dancecard-booklet!
Regretfully, the Dovercourt House is not wheelchair-accessible.
19+
If you are on Facebook, here is the event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=210368492331391

(2) MONTREAL SLOWDANCE! (As part of the Fringefest!)
Second, we are again proud to be part of the Montreal Fringefest again this year!
Mainline Theatre 3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth) Friday, June 3rd, 2011 Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 3 AM.
$10 at the door includes your dancecard-booklet!
If you are on Facebook, here is the event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147988301941141

We hope to see you out at one or both!
The best way to keep apprised of future events is by joining our Facebook group,
"Chat Perdu Productions".

Next Slowdance Night - Early Summer in Toronto! May 28th, 2011

2011-05-10T23:50:00.001-07:00

You are cordially invited to Early Summer Toronto SLOWDANCE!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy ending. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and... wh...y love is not ironic.

PS. Fabulous and inspired attire, while desired, is not required. But would be AWESOME & HAWT. Finally, you do not have to be queer to attend this party, but you must have an open mind, an open heart, and have open arms.

PPS. We are always looking for designated dancers for our evenings. If you are outgoing, warm, and willing to undertake the very serious duty and responsibility of inviting wallflowers out onto the dancefloor - if in fact, such a prospect gives you great joy - then please contact the organizers at inconsolablecat@hotmail.com.

***

Dovercourt house
805 Dovercourt Rd. (1 block North of Bloor, 3 blks. west of Ossington)
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Doors at 9:00, Dance from 9:30 PM - 2 AM.
$10 admission includes your Dancecard-booklet!
Regretfully, the Dovercourt House is not wheelchair-accessible.
19+

For more info, please go to our
online presence at
www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com
or join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

***

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

A NOTE ABOUT THE DANCE CARDS: The dancecards are these little booklets that contain a setlist of every song that will be played that evening. The idea is that during the course of the evening, you can "book" certain songs with certain people, and vice versa. So when your charming hosts announce a particular song, you can look on your dancecard and see who it is you're going to dance with next. There is a little space after every song where people can write their names. How filled your dancecard gets depends on you, of course. Ask someone to dance! Or give someone meaningful looks! Look for the Dancecard-Signing Station located somewhere on the premises, usually near a light, where small pencils are available. The dancecards also - thoughtfully - have lots of empty places where you can write down the names and numbers of charming people whom you may have danced with that night. Use of the dancecards, is, of course, optional, and completely up to you. Proceed at your comfort level.

A NOTE ABOUT THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: The Rules essentially state that as someone coming to Slow Dance Night, you have the right to ask anyone you want to dance. But whoever it is you asked has the right to refuse your request, and not have to give any reason why. But wonderfully, you have this right as well. This is done because slowdancing with someone is rather an intimate sort of enterprise, and a minor commitment, and you should have the right to back out anytime you wish. Slow Dance Night is about consensual respect and enjoyment. Just because you may have danced with someone for most of the song, if at any point you are feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, you can simply walk away. If whoever it is persists in their attention, locate one of the organizers, and they will be ejected from the premises. And fucked-up. Anyone who refuses to comply by the rules will be fucked-up.

A NOTE ABOUT THE DESIGNATED DANCERS: On any particular night there will be a handful of our Designated Dancers available to dance with you for the first half of the evening - so arrive early! They will be wearing shiny powder blue sashes, and these Designated Dancers are warm, charming, and safe people to ask to dance. Of course, the same Rules of Engagement apply, and they, as free agents, can decide for themselves who they want to dance with, and for how long, but in all likelihood, they would be very open to dancing with you. Please think of them as a warm taxi light in the middle of a blizzard; the cast of a lighthouse, when you are too far from shore and shrouded in fog; a glimmer of hope after a lifetime of desolation. Well, actually, that might be pushing it. Please think of them as a temporary safe harbour. They will also be looking for you, and asking you to dance, trying in their way to turn wallflowers into perennials.

A NOTE ABOUT INCLUSIVENESS: When we first started putting on Slowdance Nights we had this vision of everyone we knew slowdancing together under the discoball in harmony. We wanted to be as inclusive as possible, so touted our event as "queer-friendly", and "senior-friendly", and "kid-friendly". Very soon we had to abandon the kid-friendliness because we discovered people really needed to drink if they were going to ask strangers to dance. This is nothing to lament, this is just the way it is. Also, very few children showed up, and in all honesty, this was probably for the best. But despite our best efforts, it is very difficult to create social situations that are as inclusive and welcoming as we would like for everyone. I remember one particular night where one gentleman came up to me and was very disappointed, as a gay man, by the responses he got when he asked other men to dance. That very same night, this young woman came up to me and told me that she was tired of fending off all these dudes asking her to dance, when really she was just interested in dancing with the cute queer girls. This set off a kind of small crisis. As event organizers, our job is to create social situations that delight, entertain, and compel, but also to accomodate the diverse demands of the varying communities that attend. In an ideal world, homo and hetero shouldn't matter, but Slowdance Night happens in this very real world. And when you have someone else in your arms, the feeling of realness is palpable. So we are going to have two kinds of Slowdance events - one for Queers, and one for everyone else. We're cognizant of the dangers of ghettoizing certain communities, and for most events, this sort of thing doesn't matter. But when you are pressing your body up against someone else, it really matters who that person is. Orientation matters. Gender matters. The last thing we want to be, however, is Gender or Orientation Police. So, as a general rule, all events will be open to everyone, but when we have a specifically "QUEER Slowdance" Event, the stipulation is that you don't have to be queer to attend, (though most of the people there will be) but you MUST have an open mind, an open heart, and open arms. We know that this is not an ideal solution, but it's the best one we can come up with. If you think you can contribute another solution that will improve the event, please email the organizers at inconsolablecat@hotmail.com! Thank you so much! And also, we can't believe you read all this. And we hope you understand.

A NOTE ABOUT HOMOPHOBIC ARTISTS: It was recently brought to our attention that certain artists, like Bon Jovi, Guns ‘n Roses, Sting, Eminem, Ween, Public Enemy, The Pogues, The Kinks, Sex Pistols, Frank Zappa, Korn, Violent Femmes, or Chris Brown, are alleged to have made homophobic slurs or statements in the past, and/or have homophobic lyrics in their songs. In certain cases it’s hard to be sure if the homophobia was deliberate, like in The Kink’s “Lola” which leaves things kinda mysterious. In other cases, like The Spice Girls’ “2 Become 1”, heteronormativity is espoused, like in their lyric “Any deal that we endeavour/boys and girls go good together”. Though, to their credit, in recent years, a new version of that song has emerged, which has changed the lyrics to: “Once again when we endeavour, love will bring us back together” which is more inclusive. This puts us in a bit of a quandry, as you can imagine, because it’s hard to keep track of every homophobic artist and every homophobic song, and even more difficult to parse out the meaning behind every lyric. Additionally, this brings into question whether we necessarily need to attach the views of an individual artist or band to a particular song. What if the artist is homophobic, but the band is not, and the song has nothing to do with queerness? Should we enjoy the song? Here, at Queer Slowdance, after much agonizing, we’ve decided to take on the possibly controversial policy of “Fuck It – it’s a great song.” We are going to play whatever song we like because it’s a wonderful song and succeeds in bringing people closer together. We know that some of you might disagree with this, and we look forward to your angry emails, but we are also big believers in Ani DiFranco’s truism: “Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right.” And we believe that any song can be beautiful if you’re holding the right person in your arms.

A NOTE ABOUT THE NOTES: Holy shit! Did you really read down this far? That's awesome. We always read all the minutiae & marginalia too.

MONTREAL SPRING SLOWDANCE - March 26, 2011

2011-03-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

You are cordially invited to Montreal Spring Slowdance!

Mainline Theatre
3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth)
Saturday, March 26th, 2011
...Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 3 AM.
$10 at the door includes your dancecard-booklet!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior,and straight-friendly too. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

******************************************************

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

For more info, please go to our
online presence at
www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com
or join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

******************************************************

A NOTE ABOUT THE DANCE CARDS: The dancecards are these little booklets that contain a setlist of every song that will be played that evening. The idea is that during the course of the evening, you can "book" certain songs with certain people, and vice versa. So when your charming hosts announce a particular song, you can look on your dancecard and see who it is you're going to dance with next. There is a little space after every song where people can write their names. How filled your dancecard gets depends on you, of course. Ask someone to dance! Or give someone meaningful looks! Look for the Dancecard-Signing Station located somewhere on the premises, usually near a light, where small pencils are available. The dancecards also - thoughtfully - have lots of empty places where you can write down the names and numbers of charming people whom you may have danced with that night. Use of the dancecards, is, of course, optional, and completely up to you. Proceed at your comfort level.

A NOTE ABOUT THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: The Rules essentially state that as someone coming to Slow Dance Night, you have the right to ask anyone you want to dance. But whoever it is you asked has the right to refuse your request, and not have to give any reason why. But wonderfully, you have this right as well. This is done because slowdancing with someone is rather an intimate sort of enterprise, and a minor commitment, and you should have the right to back out anytime you wish. Slow Dance Night is about consensual respect and enjoyment. Just because you may have danced with someone for most of the song, if at any point you are feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, you can simply walk away. If whoever it is persists in their attention, locate one of the organizers, and they will be ejected from the premises. And fucked-up. Anyone who refuses to comply by the rules will be fucked-up.

A NOTE ABOUT THE DESIGNATED DANCERS: On any particular night there will be a handful of our Designated Dancers available to dance with you for the first half of the evening - so arrive early! They will be wearing shiny powder blue sashes, and these Designated Dancers are warm, charming, and safe people to ask to dance. Of course, the same Rules of Engagement apply, and they, as free agents, can decide for themselves who they want to dance with, and for how long, but in all likelihood, they would be very open to dancing with you. Please think of them as a warm taxi light in the middle of a blizzard; the cast of a lighthouse, when you are too far from shore and shrouded in fog; a glimmer of hope after a lifetime of desolation. Well, actually, that might be pushing it. Please think of them as a temporary safe harbour. They will also be looking for you, and asking you to dance, trying in their way to turn wallflowers into perennials. Finally, we are always looking for designated dancers for our evenings. If you are outgoing, warm, and willing to undertake the very serious duty and responsibility of inviting wallflowers out onto the dancefloor - if in fact, such a prospect gives you great joy - then please contact the organizers at inconsolablecat@hotmail.com.

A NOTE ABOUT INCLUSIVENESS: When we first started putting on Slowdance Nights we had this vision of everyone we knew slowdancing together under the discoball in harmony. We wanted to be as inclusive as possible, so touted our event as "queer-friendly", and "senior-friendly", and "kid-friendly". Very soon we had to abandon the kid-friendliness because we discovered people really needed to drink if they were going to ask strangers to dance. This is nothing to lament, this is just the way it is. Also, very few children showed up, and in all honesty, this was probably for the best. But despite our best efforts, it is very difficult to create social situations that are as inclusive and welcoming as we would like fir everyone. I remember one particular night where one gentleman came up to me and was very disappointed, as a gay man, by the responses he got when he asked other men to dance. That very same night, this young woman came up to me and told me that she was tired of fending off all these dudes asking her to dance, when really she was just interested in dancing with the cute queer girls. Of which there weren't enough of. This set off a kind of small crisis. As event organizers, our job is to create social situations that delight, entertain, and compel, but also to accomodate the diverse demands of the varying communities that attend. In an ideal world, homo and hetero shouldn't matter, but Slowdance Night happens in this very real world. And when you have someone else in your arms, the feeling of realness is palpable. So we are going to have two kinds of Slowdance events - one for Queers, and one for everyone else. We're cognizant of the dangers of ghettoizing certain communities, and for most events, this sort of thing doesn't matter. But when you are pressing your body up against someone else, it really matters who that person is. Orientation matters. Gender matters. The last thing we want to be, however, is Gender or Orientation Police. So, as a general rule, all events will be open to everyone, but when we have a specifically "QUEER Slowdance" Event, the stipulation is that you don't have to be queer to attend, (though most of the people there will be) you MUST have an open mind, an open heart, and open arms. We know that this is not an ideal solution, but it's the best one we can come up with. If you think you can contribute another solution that will improve the event, please email the organizers at inconsolablecat@hotmail.com! Thank you so much! And also, we can't believe you read all this.

If you liked this event, you might be interested in our other equally charming & compelling upcoming events!

STRIP SPELLING BEE *Hint of Spring* Edition!in Montreal. Wednesday, March 9th, 2011: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=130570460345695 or www.stripspellingbee.blogspot.com

QUEER SPEED-SPOONING in Montreal. Wednesday, March 23, 2011: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=175230229190315

CROWD KARAOKE in Montreal. Thursday, March 24, 2011: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107144192699080 or www.crowdkaraoke.blogspot.com

MONTREAL SPRING SLOWDANCE. Saturday, March 26th, 2011: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100542893361255 or www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com

TORONTO QUEER SPRING SLOWDANCE. Saturday, April 2nd, 2011: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=196280927063277 or www.queerslowdancenight.blogspot.com

MONTREAL QUEER PROM 2011. Satuday, April 9th, 2011: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171652419537322 or www.queerprom.blogspot.com

Slowdance Night in London, Ontario! - Jan. 29th, 2011

2011-01-03T19:21:00.000-08:00

You are cordially invited to the FIRST EVER Slowdance Night in LONDON, ONTARIO!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, straight, and senior-friendly too. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required. But would be AWESOME.

***

Brennan's Beer & Bistro (www.brennansbeerbistro.ca)
347 Clarence St.
London, Ontario
Saturday, January 29th, 2011

Doors at 8:30, Dance from 9 PM - 2 AM.
$8 admission includes your Dancecard-Booklet!

RSVP on the Facebook Event Page!
(Warning about the event page - in recent weeks, Facebook has been weird about event pages. Sometimes they just don't show up. If this is the case, just ignore the link. All the info you need about this event is here on this page!)

******************************************************

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

For more info, please join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"
or go to our blog: http://www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com/

******************************************************

A NOTE ABOUT INCLUSIVENESS: This will be a queer, straight and trans-friendly event! You may be asked to dance by someone of the same, opposite, or indeterminate gender! We are delighted by this and we hope you are too. If, however, that prospect scares you, then it is probably a good idea for you to stay home. Assholes, and assholishness, will NOT BE TOLERATED. Our entire aim is to create a safe and welcoming place for everyone to ask anyone they like to dance.

A NOTE ABOUT THE DANCE CARDS: The dancecards are these little booklets that contain a setlist of every song that will be played that evening. The idea is that during the course of the evening, you can "book" certain songs with certain people, and vice versa. So when your charming hosts announce a particular song, you can look on your dancecard and see who it is you're going to dance with next. There is a little space after every song where people can write their names. How filled your dancecard gets depends on you, of course. Ask someone to dance! Or give someone meaningful looks! Look for the Dancecard-Signing Station located somewhere on the premises, usually near a light, where small pencils are available. The dancecards also - thoughtfully - have lots of empty places where you can write down the names and numbers of charming people whom you may have danced with that night. Use of the dancecards, is, of course, optional, and completely up to you. Proceed at your comfort level.

A NOTE ABOUT THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: The Rules essentially state that as someone coming to Slow Dance Night, you have the right to ask anyone you want to dance. But whoever it is you asked has the right to refuse your request, and not have to give any reason why. But wonderfully, you have this right as well. This is done because slowdancing with someone is rather an intimate sort of enterprise, and a minor commitment, and you should have the right to back out anytime you wish. Slow Dance Night is about consensual respect and enjoyment. Just because you may have danced with someone for most of the song, if at any point you are feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, you can simply walk away. If whoever it is persists in their attention, locate one of the organizers, and they will be ejected from the premises. And fucked-up. Anyone who refuses to comply by the rules will be fucked-up.

A NOTE ABOUT THE DESIGNATED DANCERS: On any particular night there will be a handful of our Designated Dancers available to dance with you for the first half of the evening - so arrive early! They will be wearing shiny powder blue sashes, and these Designated Dancers are warm, charming, and safe people to ask to dance. Of course, the same Rules of Engagement apply, and they, as free agents, can decide for themselves who they want to dance with, and for how long, but in all likelihood, they would be very open to dancing with you. Please think of them as a warm taxi light in the middle of a blizzard; the cast of a lighthouse, when you are too far from shore and shrouded in fog; a glimmer of hope after a lifetime of desolation. Well, actually, that might be pushing it. Please think of them as a temporary safe harbour. They will also be looking for you, and asking you to dance, trying in their way to turn wallflowers into perennials. Finally, we are always looking for designated dancers for our evenings. If you are outgoing, warm, and willing to undertake the very serious duty and responsibility of inviting wallflowers out onto the dancefloor - if in fact, such a prospect gives you great joy - then please contact the organizers at inconsolablecat@hotmail.com.

NEW YEAR'S EVE SLOWDANCE in MONTREAL - Dec. 31st, 2010

2010-12-07T04:58:00.000-08:00

FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE!

Mainline Theatre
3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth)
Friday, December 31st, 2010
Doors at 9:30,
Dance from 10 PM - 3:30 AM.
Your Dancecard-Booklet will be provided!
This event is FREE!

RSVP on our Facebook event page!

To celebrate our Third Year Anniversary of putting on Slowdance Nights, you are invited to come to our free NEW YEAR'S EVE SLOWDANCE in MONTREAL.

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior,and straight-friendly too. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

******************************************************

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

For more info, please go to our
online presences at
www.queerslowdancenight.blogspot.com or www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com
or join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

******************************************************

A NOTE ABOUT THE DANCE CARDS: The dancecards are these little booklets that contain a setlist of every song that will be played that evening. The idea is that during the course of the evening, you can "book" certain songs with certain people, and vice versa. So when your charming hosts announce a particular song, you can look on your dancecard and see who it is you're going to dance with next. There is a little space after every song where people can write their names. How filled your dancecard gets depends on you, of course. Ask someone to dance! Or give someone meaningful looks! Look for the Dancecard-Signing Station located somewhere on the premises, usually near a light, where small pencils are available. The dancecards also - thoughtfully - have lots of empty places where you can write down the names and numbers of charming people whom you may have danced with that night. Use of the dancecards, is, of course, optional, and completely up to you. Proceed at your comfort level.

A NOTE ABOUT THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: The Rules essentially state that as someone coming to Slow Dance Night, you have the right to ask anyone you want to dance. But whoever it is you asked has the right to refuse your request, and not have to give any reason why. But wonderfully, you have this right as well. This is done because slowdancing with someone is rather an intimate sort of enterprise, and a minor commitment, and you should have the right to back out anytime you wish. Slow Dance Night is about consensual respect and enjoyment. Just because you may have danced with someone for most of the song, if at any point you are feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, you can simply walk away. If whoever it is persists in their attention, locate one of the organizers, and they will be ejected from the premises. And fucked-up. Anyone who refuses to comply by the rules will be fucked-up.

A NOTE ABOUT THE DESIGNATED DANCERS: On any particular night there will be a handful of our Designated Dancers available to dance with you for the first half of the evening - so arrive early! They will be wearing shiny powder blue sashes, and these Designated Dancers are warm, charming, and safe people to ask to dance. Of course, the same Rules of Engagement apply, and they, as free agents, can decide for themselves who they want to dance with, and for how long, but in all likelihood, they would be very open to dancing with you. Please think of them as a warm taxi light in the middle of a blizzard; the cast of a lighthouse, when you are too far from shore and shrouded in fog; a glimmer of hope after a lifetime of desolation. Well, actually, that might be pushing it. Please think of them as a temporary safe harbour. They will also be looking for you, and asking you to dance, trying in their way to turn wallflowers into perennials. Finally, we are always looking for designated dancers for our evenings. If you are outgoing, warm, and willing to undertake the very serious duty and responsibility of inviting wallflowers out onto the dancefloor - if in fact, such a prospect gives you great joy - then please contact the organizers at inconsolablecat@hotmail.com.

A NOTE ABOUT INCLUSIVENESS: When we first started putting on Slowdance Nights we had this vision of everyone we knew slowdancing together under the discoball in harmony. We wanted to be as inclusive as possible, so touted our event as "queer-friendly", and "senior-friendly", and "kid-friendly". Very soon we had to abandon the kid-friendliness because we discovered people really needed to drink if they were going to ask strangers to dance. This is nothing to lament, this is just the way it is. Also, very few children showed up, and in all honesty, this was probably for the best. But despite our best efforts, it is very difficult to create social situations that are as inclusive and welcoming as we would like fir everyone. I remember one particular night where one gentleman came up to me and was very disappointed, as a gay man, by the responses he got when he asked other men to dance. That very same night, this young woman came up to me and told me that she was tired of fending off all these dudes asking her to dance, when really she was just interested in dancing with the cute queer girls. Of which there weren't enough of. This set off a kind of small crisis. As event organizers, our job is to create social situations that delight, entertain, and compel, but also to accomodate the diverse demands of the varying communities that attend. In an ideal world, homo and hetero shouldn't matter, but Slowdance Night happens in this very real world. And when you have someone else in your arms, the feeling of realness is palpable. So we are going to have two kinds of Slowdance events - one for Queers, and one for everyone else. We're cognizant of the dangers of ghettoizing certain communities, and for most events, this sort of thing doesn't matter. But when you are pressing your body up against someone else, it really matters who that person is. Orientation matters. Gender matters. The last thing we want to be, however, is Gender or Orientation Police. So, as a general rule, all events will be open to everyone, but when we have a specifically "QUEER Slowdance" Event, the stipulation is that you don't have to be queer to attend, (though most of the people there will be) you MUST have an open mind, an open heart, and open arms. We know that this is not an ideal solution, but it's the best one we can come up with. If you think you can contribute another solution that will improve the event, please email the organizers at inconsolablecat@hotmail.com! Thank you so much! And also, we can't believe you read all this.

PS. If you find this event charming, you may be interested in our sister event - Strip Spelling Bee, which is essentially like strip poker, but it's a spelling bee, and it takes place in front of a live audience of hooters and hollerers who want to see some smart and sexy skin! See all the details here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154774577901544 or at http://www.stripspellingbee.blogspot.com

Slowdance Night of the Living Dead in TORONTO!

2010-10-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

You are cordially invited to SLOWDANCE NIGHT of the Living Dead in Toronto!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slow Dance Night of the Living Dead has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, s...enior, and couple-friendly too. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required. But hell, it's so close to Halloween - why not? We envision a roomful of bloody zombies slow-shuffling to "Lady in Red" and "Pieces of You."

If you like this event, you might be delighted to discover that it is only one in a QUIRKY TRILOGY of events happening in Toronto that weekend. We hope you will come to one or all of them!

FRIDAY, OCT. 22: Strip Spelling Bee: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=153192634720359

SATURDAY, OCT. 23: Slowdance Night of the Living Dead: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156212001067963

SUNDAY, OCT. 24: Crowd Karaoke: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159140854104922

***

Dovercourt house
805 Dovercourt Rd. (1 block North of Bloor, 3 blks. west of Ossington)
Saturday, Oct. 23rd, 2010
Doors at 9:00, Dance from 9:30 PM - 2 AM.
$10 admission includes your Dancecard-booklet!

For more info, please go to our
online presence at
www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com
or join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

***

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

A NOTE ABOUT THE DANCE CARDS: The dancecards are these little booklets that contain a setlist of every song that will be played that evening. The idea is that during the course of the evening, you can "book" certain songs with certain people, and vice versa. So when your charming hosts announce a particular song, you can look on your dancecard and see who it is you're going to dance with next. There is a little space after every song where people can write their names. How filled your dancecard gets depends on you, of course. Ask someone to dance! Or give someone meaningful looks! Look for the Dancecard-Signing Station located somewhere on the premises, usually near a light, where small pencils are available. The dancecards also - thoughtfully - have lots of empty places where you can write down the names and numbers of charming people whom you may have danced with that night. Use of the dancecards, is, of course, optional, and completely up to you. Proceed at your comfort level.

A NOTE ABOUT THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: The Rules essentially state that as someone coming to Slow Dance Night, you have the right to ask anyone you want to dance. But whoever it is you asked has the right to refuse your request, and not have to give any reason why. But wonderfully, you have this right as well. This is done because slowdancing with someone is rather an intimate sort of enterprise, and a minor commitment, and you should have the right to back out anytime you wish. Slow Dance Night is about consensual respect and enjoyment. Just because you may have danced with someone for most of the song, if at any point you are feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, you can simply walk away. If whoever it is persists in their attention, locate one of the organizers, and they will be ejected from the premises. And fucked-up. Anyone who refuses to comply by the rules will be fucked-up.

A NOTE ABOUT THE DESIGNATED DANCERS: On any particular night there will be a handful of our Designated Dancers available to dance with you. They will be wearing shiny powder blue sashes, and these Designated Dancers are warm, charming, and safe people to ask to dance. Of course, the same Rules of Engagement apply, and they, as free agents, can decide for themselves who they want to dance with, and for how long, but in all likelihood, they would be very open to dancing with you. Please think of them as a warm taxi light in the middle of a blizzard; the cast of a lighthouse, when you are too far from shore and shrouded in fog; a glimmer of hope after a lifetime of desolation. Well, actually, that might be pushing it. Please think of them as a temporary safe harbour. They will also be looking for you, and asking you to dance, trying in their way to turn wallflowers into perennials.

Finally, we are always looking for designated dancers for our evenings. If you are outgoing, warm, and willing to undertake the very serious duty and responsibility of inviting wallflowers out onto the dancefloor - if in fact, such a prospect gives you great joy - then please contact the organizers at inconsolablecat@hotmail.com.

Back 2 School SLOWDANCE NIGHT in Montreal!

2010-09-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

You are cordially invited to the "Back 2 School" Edition of Slowdance Night in Montreal!

Mainline Theatre
3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth)
Friday, October 1st, 2010
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 3 AM.
$10 admission includes your Dancecard-booklet!
Let us know you're coming at our facebook event page!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, ...and couple-friendly too. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

***

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

For more info, please go to our
online presence at
www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com
or join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

Finally, if you like this event, you may be interested in our Strip Spelling Bee events. They are similarly charming, and more details can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151165174917849&ref=mf
NOTE THAT IT IS TAKING PLACE THE DAY BEFORE THE SLOWDANCE EVENT!

***
PS. If you like us, please forward these events to people you think might be interested! Or, if you wouldn't mind - please share us with your friends on your Facebook page. Many thanks.

Late Summer SLOWDANCE NIGHT in Montreal!

2010-08-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

You are cordially invited to the "Late Summer" Edition of Slowdance Night in Montreal!

Mainline Theatre
3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth)
Saturday, Aug 28th, 2010
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 3 AM.
$10 admission includes your Dancecard-booklet!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, an...d couple-friendly too. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

***

To be regularly apprised of upcoming Slowdance events, join our facebook group, "Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

Finally, if you like this event, you may be interested in our Strip Spelling Bee events. They are similarly charming, and more details can be found here:
www.stripspellingbee.blogspot.com or
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128367887209957
NOTE THAT IT IS TAKING PLACE 5 DAYS AFTER THE SLOWDANCE EVENT!

***
PS. If you like us, please forward these events to people you think might be interested! Or, if you wouldn't mind - please share us with your friends on your Facebook page. Many thanks.

***

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

A Midsummer's SLOWDANCE NIGHT in Toronto!

2010-07-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

You are cordially invited to
A Midsummer's SLOW DANCE NIGHT in Toronto!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slow Dance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy... ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

Dovercourt house 805 Dovercourt Rd. (1 block North of Bloor, 3 blks. west of Ossington) Saturday, August 14th, 2010 Doors at 9:00, Dance from 9:30 PM - 2 AM. $10 admission includes your Dancecard-booklet!

For more info, please go to our
online presence at
www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com
or join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

***
"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press "In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette "I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

A NOTE ABOUT THE DANCE CARDS: The dancecards are these little booklets that contain a setlist of every song that will be played that evening. The idea is that during the course of the evening, you can "book" certain songs with certain people, and vice versa. So when your charming hosts announce a particular song, you can look on your dancecard and see who it is you're going to dance with next. There is a little space after every song where people can write their names. How filled your dancecard gets depends on you, of course. Ask someone to dance! Or give someone meaningful looks! Look for the Dancecard-Signing Station located somewhere on the premises, usually near a light, where small pencils are available. The dancecards also - thoughtfully - have lots of empty places where you can write down the names and numbers of charming people whom you may have danced with that night. Use of the dancecards, is, of course, optional, and completely up to you. Proceed at your comfort level.

A NOTE ABOUT THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: The Rules essentially state that as someone coming to Slow Dance Night, you have the right to ask anyone you want to dance. But whoever it is you asked has the right to refuse your request, and not have to give any reason why. But wonderfully, you have this right as well. This is done because slowdancing with someone is rather an intimate sort of enterprise, and a minor commitment, and you should have the right to back out anytime you wish. Slow Dance Night is about consensual respect and enjoyment. Just because you may have danced with someone for most of the song, if at any point you are feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, you can simply walk away. If whoever it is persists in their attention, locate one of the organizers, and they will be ejected from the premises. And fucked-up. Anyone who refuses to comply by the rules will be fucked-up.

A NOTE ABOUT THE DESIGNATED DANCERS: On any particular night there will be a handful of our Designated Dancers available to dance with you. They will be wearing shiny gold or powder blue sashes, and these Designated Dancers' are warm, charming, and safe people to ask to dance. Of course, the same Rules of Engagement apply, and they, as free agents, can decide for themselves who they want to dance with, and for how long, but in all likelihood, they would be very open to dancing with you. Please think of them as a warm taxi light in the middle of a blizzard; the cast of a lighthouse, when you are too far from shore and shrouded in fog; a glimmer of hope after a lifetime of desolation. Well, actually, that might be pushing it. Please think of them as a temporary safe harbour. They will also be looking for you, and asking you to dance, trying in their way to turn wallflowers into perennials.

Finally, we are always looking for designated dancers for our evenings. If you are outgoing, warm, and willing to undertake the very serious duty and responsibility of inviting wallflowers out onto the dancefloor - if in fact, such a prospect gives you great joy - then please contact the organizers at inconsolablecat@hotmail.com.

Slowdance Night in Ottawa - Friday, July 2nd, 2010!

2010-06-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

Come join us for our Hawt Sizzling Summah Edition of Slowdance Night in Ottawa! It's hot and it'll get hotter with a warm pair of arms around you!

Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Shanghai Restaurant
651 Somerset st. W (at Bronson)
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 2 AM
$8 admission includes your dancecard!

Here is the Facebook event page - let us know you're coming!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long!

Sway, turn and twirl your way through the hipster's alternative to speed-dating. It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too.

***

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

Hawt Summer Slowdance night

2010-05-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

You are cordially invited to the "Hawt Summer Nights" Edition of Slowdance Night in Montreal!

Mainline Theatre
3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth)
Friday, June 4th, 2010
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 3 AM.
$10 admission includes your Dancecard-booklet!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

Also, in an ironic twist of fate - a scintillating and scandalous smut zine whose covers I (SDN host) have been the illustrator of - is having their launch party this very night! In order to co-promote our events, we will both be offering a dollar off admission with presentation of either a dance card or a copy of Lickety-Split #8 at the door. Here is their event page! Lickety-Split Smut Zine #8 Launch Party: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111035035605916&ref=mf

***

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

For more info, please go to our
online presence at
www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com
or join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

Finally, if you like this event, you may be interested in our Strip Spelling Bee events. They are similarly charming, and more details can be found here: http://www.stripspellingbee.blogspot.com or here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122832201076014

La Soirée des Slows, Que des slows, toute la nuit!

2010-05-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

La Soirée des Slows,
Que des slows, toute la nuit!

(DEAR ANGLOPHONES: This is our first french Slowdance Night! Be prepared to converse in french! Half the songs will be in french! Our dancecards will be in french! Our hot french hostess will be announcing each song and gently encouraging you to dance in french! All kisses will be french kisses! Please forward this event to your francophone friends! And despair not! Next anglophone Slowdance Night will be June 4th at the Mainline.)

Dôtée de danseurs designés pour tous les timides, et d’un carnet de chansons si vous souhaitez planifier des slows à l’avance, la Soirée des Slows a toutes les bonnes chansons, toute la nuit.

C’est comme au bal de graduation, sauf que ca finira bien, de plus les queers, personnes ainés et couples sont les bienvenus.

PS : ensembles inspirés et inspirants de rigueur mais pas obligatoires.

Mercredi 19 mai 2010
Au Divan Orange
4234 Boulevard Saint Laurent
(Juste au nord de Rachel côté Est)

Portes à 20h30, slows de 21h à 2h

Admission de $7 incluant le carnet de slows

Remarque sur les cartes des slows: les cartes de slows sont ces petits carnets qui contiennent les listes des chansons qui seront jouées à cette soirée. Elles vous permettront de réserver des slows tous au long de la soirée avec vos personnes favorites et vice versa. Alors quand votre charmante hôtesse annoncera la chanson, vous n’aurez qu’à consulter votre carnet et danser avec le/la heureuse élue. Il y a un petit espace après chaque chanson où les personnes peuvent écrire les noms. Rendez-vous au kiosk des carnets et munissez des petits crayons à votre disponibilité. Plus d’espace a été prévus afin que vous puissiez aussi écrire les noms et numéros de cell des charmantes personnes avec qui vous aurez dansé à cette soirée.

Remarque sur le comportement : il est stipulé que quiconque vient danser à la Soirée des Slows a le droit de proposer à n’importe qui de danser. Mais cette personne a le droit en retour de refuser et cela sans avoir à fournir une raison valable. Bien entendu ce droit vous appartient aussi. Danser un slow signifie que vous êtes dans un contexte intime et vous pouvez vous retirer à n’importe quel moment. Cela inspire le consentement mutuel et le plaisir. Si vous avez dansé avec la même personne tout au long de la soirée et que cela devient inconfortable vous pouvez tout simplement arrêter. Si la personne insiste, veuillez nous le faire savoir et nous ferons en sorte de régler le litige. Quiconque ne respecterait pas son prochain sera mis à la porte!

Remarque sur les danseurs accompagnateurs : les soirées seront toujours dotées de danseurs accompagnateurs qui vous entraîneront dans les slows. Ils seront vêtus de banderoles dorées qui accentuent leur côté chaleureux et charmant, ils vous aideront à vous sentir à l’aise. Bien entendu les remarques sur le comportement s’appliquent aussi aux danseurs accompagnateurs, eux aussi peuvent refuser une offre ou choisir de ne pas re-danser avec vous, mais il est très possible qu’ils le fassent tout de même. Imaginez-les comme des sauveteurs, qui viendrait vous chercher si vous vous noyez ou mieux encore, comme la lumière d’un phare qui vous rappelle à la terre ferme, bon ok c’est un peu exagéré. Mais ils sont là pour vous rassurer quoi qu’il arrive! Si vous êtes sociables, et aimer venir en aide aux âmes timides, nous sommes toujours ouvert aux offres de danseurs accompagnateurs, en fait, nous adorons ça alors n’hésitez pas à contacter les organisateurs @ inconsolablecat@hotmail.com.

***

March 27th, 2010 is the next Slowdance Night in Montreal!

2010-03-13T13:29:00.001-08:00

You are cordially invited to the "OMFG It's Almost Spring" Edition of Slowdance Night in Montreal!

Mainline Theatre
3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth)
Saturday, March 27th, 2010
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 3 AM.
$10 admission includes your Dancecard-booklet!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance (should you choose to), Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long! (Except for the occasional intermission when we play the fastest songs we can find!)

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too. Come and experience why slow is beautiful, and why love is not ironic.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

***

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

If you like the sound of this event, and on Facebook, please note that this is One event in a Trilogy of quirky, stimulating, and all-natural Events that weekend, all at the Mainline Theatre. We do hope you will take a moment to peruse the others:
March 26 – Strip Spelling Bee - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=344147768350
March 27 – Slow Dance Night - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=347922501307
March 28 – Crowd Karaoke - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=344985514676

If, however, you abhor Facebook, and consider it akin to a cult that is eating up all your friends' time, then please peruse the following blogspots in our event network.
www.stripspellingbee.blogspot.com
www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com
www.crowdkaraoke.blogspot.com

Slowdance Your Way into 2010!

2009-11-30T13:25:00.000-08:00

Mainline Theatre 3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth) December 31st, New Year's Eve! Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - Dawn Dancecards available! Free

***

To celebrate our 2 year anniversary, we've teamed up with the lovely folks at the Mainline Theatre this year to put on a FREE New Year's Eve Slowdance Night!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance, Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long!

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

***

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests
***

For more info, please go to our
online presence at
www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com
or join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

RSVP at our event page!

Slowdance the Autumn in!

2009-08-31T09:45:00.000-07:00

We have three slowdances coming up, chickens.

>>> Slowdance Night in MONTREAL! (click for Facebook event)

Come join us for our Back to School Edition of Slowdance Night in Montreal! As the nights get colder, it's nice to find a pair of warm arms to hold you.

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance, Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long!

Sway, turn and twirl your way through the hipster's alternative to speed-dating. It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too.

Sat. September 12, 2009
Mainline Theatre
3997 St-Laurent Blvd.
(just south of Duluth)
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 3 AM
$10 admission includes your dancecard!

>>> QUEER SLOWDANCE - meow mix edition (click for Facebook event)

An early-bird soiree : 7pm-midnight!!!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sala Rossa, 4848 St-Laurent

7pm : DeAnne Smith (queer comic extraordinaire) & We're Coming (blues and a touch of cuntry) set the mood.

8pm - let the dances begin!

Four slow sets with the occasional LIVE song by guest artists. Avec votre liste de tous les slows autour de votre poignet, vous pouvez planifier vos danses et vos breaks de cigarettes!
A dancecard-booklet helps you set up dances and breaks in advance!

* Inspired attire, while desired, is not required. It's high school with a happy ending! *

Shy? Come early and enjoy the company of our DESIGANTED DANCERS (photos below) at your service from 8-9pm:
- Miriam Ginestier (Meow Mix Mistress)
- Nora Rohman (High Femme queer organizer, DJ, singer, & sexologist)
- Ian Poe Kerr (Dukes of Drag)
- Jacky (Dukes of Drag)
- Joey Donnelly (Queer Concordia)
- Von (Perverscite organiser)
- Ahmar Hussein (fun-loving nerd)
- Daniel Baylis (Tourisme Montreal's "Gay Face of Montreal")

Special guest crooners : Nat King Pole, Miss Mitcham, Mim, John, Nora

>>> Slowdance Night in OTTAWA! (click for Facebook event)

Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Shanghai Restaurant
651 Somerset st. W (at Bronson)
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 2 AM
$8 admission includes your dancecard!

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

Slow Is Beautiful

2009-05-31T13:59:00.001-07:00

Please enjoy this short video called Slow is Beautiful. It features Amber and Sherwin DJing Slowdance Night - Spring Edition 2009.

Slowdance Night - Spring 2009 Edition!

2009-05-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance, Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long!

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

***
"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests
***
Mainline Theatre
3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth)
Friday, May 29th, 2009!
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 3 AM
$10 admission includes your dancecard!
(Note: the dancecards are blank. We do not set you up with anyone. If however, you wish to ask someone to dance to a particular song, there will be pencils at our Signing Station. We merely list all the songs that will be played during the evening in it.)

For more info, please visit the Facebook event page or join our Facebook group, "Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"!

Slowdance Night in Ottawa: Valentine's Day Edition!

2009-01-27T15:59:00.001-08:00

Come join us for our "Lucky in Love" Valentine's Edition of Slowdance Night in Ottawa!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance, Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long!

Sway, turn and twirl your way through the hipster's alternative to speed-dating. It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too.

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press
"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette
"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

Friday, February 13th, 2009
Shanghai Restaurant
651 Somerset st. W (at Bronson)
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 2 AM
$8 admission includes your dancecard!

For more info, join our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

NEW YEARS' EVE SLOWDANCE PARTY

2008-12-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

To celebrate our 1 year anniversary, we've teamed up with the lovely folks at the Mainline Theatre this year to put on a FREE New Year's Eve Slowdance Night!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance, Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long!

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too.

PS. Fantastic and inspired attire, while desired, is not required.

***

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

***

Mainline Theatre
3997 St-Laurent Blvd. (Just south of Duluth)
December 31st, New Year's Eve!
Doors at 10, Dance from 11 PM - Dawn
Dancecards available!
Free

For more info, please consider joining our facebook group,
"Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow"

Thank you, Toronto.

2008-12-05T11:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks for being such a charming dance partner! This photo is from the Worn Fashion Journal site, where you will be able to check out photos from the slowdance this coming Monday, December 8th. You can also expect to find photos that Sherwin took on our Facebook group, Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow, very soon.

The next Slowdance Night is a TORONTO Winter Formal!

2008-11-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

Worn Fashion Journal & Slowdance Night team-up
to bring you The Most Important Night of Your Life!

Featuring the Release of
Worn Fashion Journal issue 7!

Featuring All Slow Songs, All Night Long!

Featuring an Intimate
Dancecard-Booklet!

And there’s more to this Very Special Evening!
A Lending Library of Resident Dancers!
A Photobooth for the Fashion-Passionate!

Fancy dress, while not
required, is greatly desired.

$10 Formal Ticket
comes with the very
Latest Issue of Worn
Fashion Journal as well
as your Dancecard!

Saturday, November 29, 2008 at 9:00pm
Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Road
(1 block n. of Bloor, 3 sts. west of Ossington)
Toronto! Ontario!

This is a queer & senior friendly event.

This is a co-production of Lickety Split smut zine,
Perpetual Emotion Machine Productions,
and Worn Fashion Journal.

Thanks + photos are coming soon!

2008-10-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

You were all so beautiful last night. Thank you.

***UPDATE***

Photos from our last MTL SDN are available on our Facebook group page, Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow.

Want to join the Slow Dance Committee? Who wouldn't!

2008-10-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Perpetual Emotion Machines & Lickety Split smut zine would like to invite you, dear reader, to join our Slow Dance Committee! We are currently preparing the festivities for the Halloween Edition of Slow Dance Night, which will be happening on October 17th in Montreal at the lovely La Sala Rossa (4848 St. Laurent, near St. Joseph).

We need your idle hands to busy themselves by helping make dance cards and corsages. If you don't have a moment to spare before the big event, we are also looking for resident dancers who do us all the honour of deflowering the wallflowers of their dance floor virginity. We also would love some folks to help us put up decorations the afternoon of the Slow Dance. Glory, goodies and Slow Dance pins are yours to be had for joining us!

Do let us know if this sounds like something you'd like to get involved with and we will send you the date of the committee met-up! Send us an e-mail: a@licketysplitzine.com

Thank you!

Oct. 17th: Slow dance Night - Halloween Edition!

2008-10-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance, Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long!

Sway, turn & twirl your way through a playlist gathering crooning slowdanceable tunes from the fifties' to the present.

It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior and couple-friendly too!

As this is our Halloween edition, frightful and fantastic attire, while deeply desired, is not required. However, those who come in costume, whether Halloween-themed or otherwise, will get a free 1" Slowdance Night pin!

Friday, October 17th, 2008
La Sala Rossa, 4848 Boul. St-Laurent (just south of St. Joseph)

Doors at 9:30.
Dance from 10 PM - 3 AM
$10 admission comes with dancecard!

A co-production of Lickety Split Smut Zine
& Perpetual Emotion Machine Productions

PS. Just a note to patrons that Mange Ta Ville ("Eat Your City"), a television show on ARTV, will be filming at various times during the event. They are interested in doing a story about Slowdance Night, so this is just a note that you might appear briefly on television at some point. We hope that they will add to the ambiance of the evening, rather than detract from it. Thanks for your understanding.

More here:
Slow Dance Night- Halloween Edition (the Facebook event!)
Slowdancers of the World Unite & Dance Slow (join our Facebook group!)

One more time, with feeling

2008-09-19T08:03:00.001-07:00

Photos from SDN Fringe- June 20th, 2008 at the Academy Club!

2008-07-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

Slow Dance Night courts Ottawa!

2008-07-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance, Slowdance Night has all slow songs, all night long!

Sway, turn and twirl your way through the hipster's alternative to speed-dating. It's high school with a happy ending, and it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly too.

"Relive the prom without the angst." - the Canadian Press

"In an age where physical contact is a scarce commodity, an event that brings strangers safely together is long overdue." - The Montreal Gazette

"I really like hugging people, and this is like, a five-minute hug." - Telyn Kusalik, one of our guests

Shanghai Restaurant
651 Somerset st. W (at Bronson)
Doors at 9:30, Dance from 10 PM - 2 AM
$7 admission includes your dancecard!

Thank you!

2008-06-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who made it out last night! We'll be posting photos soon, so do check back often. Also, thanks to our friends, resident dancers, the Academy Club and The Fringe Festival for helping making this edition of Slow Dance Night an extra special one.

Yay!

June 20th: SDN Fringe Edition!

2008-06-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

This year we are a Special Event as part of the St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival!

With a lending library of designated dancers for all you wallflowers, and a dancecard-booklet to set up dances in advance, Slow Dance Night has all slow songs, all night long! Sway, turn and twirl your way through the hipster's alternative to speed-dating. It’s high school with a happy ending. And it's queer, senior, and couple-friendly, too.

Friday, June 20, 2008 at 10:00pm
The Academy Club,
4445 Boul. St-Laurent (just s. of Mont-Royal on e. side)
$10 admission includes your dancecard.

Check out this 4 minute documentary on Slow Dance Night by Marites Carino: http://current.com/items/88986091_designated_slow_dancers

...and here are a coupla articles that came out this Spring:
One
and
Two

SLOWDANCE PROM 2008!

2008-03-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

Worn Fashion Journal & Slowdance Night team-up
to bring you The Most Important Night of Your Life!

Featuring the Release of
Worn Fashion Journal issue 6!

Featuring All Slow Songs,
All Night Long!

Featuring an Intimate
Dancecard-Booklet!

And there’s more to this Very Special Evening!

Door Prize Pack Draws!
A Lending Library of Resident Dancers!
A Photobooth for the Fashion-Passionate!

The night will be lit by a Mirrorball & the
Projections of Prom Scenes from over 20 movies!

Dress Fancy! Fantastic attire, while not
required, is greatly desired.

$10 Prom Ticket
comes with the very
Latest Issue of Worn
Fashion Journal as well
as your Dancecard

This is a queer & senior friendly event.

More info: www.wornjournal.com, www.licketysplitzine.com,
& www.slowdancenight.blogspot.com

Photos from The Valentines Edition of Slow Dance Night! (Part 1 of 3)

2008-02-22T16:45:00.001-08:00

Slow Dance Night is like high school with a happy ending.
Text and photos by Sherwin, blogging by Amber.8:03 PM. A sunday night, with freezing rain outside, here we are, scared that no one is going to show.

9:27 PM. To our great relief, people arrive at a steady clip and by this time, the night is fully underway, and people, while still getting over their initial shyness, are starting to dance, and ask others to dance.

10:07 PM

10:25 PM.

10:30 PM.

10:54 PM.

11:05 PM
11:06 PM. Taken without the flash.

11:09 PM. This was about the crowdest it got. I had to squeeze past people to get back to the stage. The whole room was warm. But even though it was very hot, slowdancing is not exertion-heavy, and so I think people found it quite nice.
11:14 PM

Photos from The Valentines Edition of Slow Dance Night! (Part 2 of 3)

2008-02-22T16:35:00.001-08:00

11:14 PM

11:23 PM

11:23 PM

11:23 PM

12:04 AM

12:08 AM

12:35 AM. Thank heaven for polka dots.

12:36 AM. Even in the madness, some people found time to be lovers in a dangerous clime.

12:36 AM

12:41 AM

Photos from The Valentines Edition of Slow Dance Night! (Part 3 of 3)

2008-02-22T16:23:00.000-08:00

These last photos aren't as chronological as the ones above....This is the last photo I took of the evening, during the last song of the night. See what you miss when you leave early? The night transforms into a makeout party. Here, against the wall, our cigarette girl and one of our resident dancers tongue. Hawt.

1:03 AM.

12:46 AM

12:44 AM

Read all about it in the Montreal Mirror!

2008-02-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

The lovely and generous Marites wrote some nice things after sitting down with us recently. Check it out and we hope to see you on Sunday!

Are you attending this event? Do you have an interesting story about SDN?

2008-02-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

A nice person named Marites will be doing a mini-doc on Slow Dance Night, and is looking for
someone- a resident dancer or someone attending for the first time who would let her interview them about why they're going, and let her tag along for parts of the evening. If you could send her an e-mail at dancingmirror AT hotmail DOT com with your story and why you'd be interested in this, that would be great. merci.

Slowdance Night: Valentine's Edition on February 17th!

2008-01-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

A recap:
All slow dances, all night long! We'll have a lending library of resident dancers for all you wallflowers! This is a queer and senior friendly event. Dress fancy and get your dancecard filled!
Join us Valentine's Day weekend at Le Cagibi (5490 St-Laurent Blvd., corner of St-Viateur), Sunday February 17th at 8pm. $5 cover charge includes a dance card.

Photos from our first Slow Dance Night!

2008-01-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,
What a lovely time and what a pleasure it was for Sherwin and I to host everyone who came on out to our first Slow Dance Night on December 21st at Le Cagibi, in fair Montreal. The photos below and videos below that and the writing below that are by Sherwin. Click on the photos to enlarge them. Enjoy! Thanks for coming on out and check back for details regarding upcoming Slow Dance Nights. Happy New Year!
Hearts,
Amber

Slow Dance Video- Dancin' to Sinead!

2008-01-01T14:36:00.000-08:00

Slow Dance Video- Dancin' to Led Zeppelin!

2008-01-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

Slow Dance Video- Dancin' to Elvis!

2008-01-01T14:24:00.000-08:00

The inside of our first dance card.

2008-01-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

Includes set lists, Our Rules of Engagement and more! Click on the image to enlarge it.

Co-Organizer's Diary: Our First Slow Dance Night

2008-01-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

Me and Amber are in the backroom of Le Cagibi, moving tables. We've got a couple of hours before the Slowdance starts, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. We know that we're going to turn the backroom - full of charm to begin with - into some kind of prom-like paradise, but when we first get there, with random people hanging out at a couple of tables, tables which are crowding our future dancefloor, it certainly doesn't feel like it.
The great thing about Amber is that she's a pragmatist, yet lets herself imagine possibilities. To be in the event-organizing game, you have to be equal parts dreamer and person who can get things done – that is, roots and wings. And so while I'm a little overwhelmed, and still trying to figure out what we have to do first, she just starts dragging tables and stacking them in the back bathroom. Finally, I pull out the disco ball I bought for the event and peer up at this bar that sticks out of the central pillar, strategizing just how exactly I'm going to put it up, get the lights spinning and reflecting to their maximum impact.
The next hour is a a sweaty one. Amber sets up tables near the entrance archway so people will see it at once when they come in. I put up crepe paper above it so it hangs down and people have to walk through it.
"That's great!" Amber says, when she sees me doing it. "It should hang down like a waterfall!" So I hang several more streamers. There's something shabby and almost post-prom about it, which I like. I think the French even have a word for it – déshabillé, I think.
Once the disco ball is up and turning, things already feel more festive. When I'm up on the ladder, I ask Amber how it looks. Before I got a disco ball, I never knew that there were different ways to light it. But if you hit it with the spotlight near the top, your ceiling is going to have all these rotating stars. And if you hit it low, the lights will dance all over the floor and your audience. We decide to go for something where it mostly hits the floor and the wall.
"It'll make the people sparkle," I comment, coming down from the ladder.
Then Amber shows me a trick regarding the crepe paper.
"I like making it twist," she says, rotating the pink roll. The line corkscrews from the center pillar to the walls and it's gorgeous. There's something so iconic about twisted crepe paper. I kick myself because a couple of streamers that I put up didn't twist.
"Argh!" I argh. "The ones I put up look awful. I should've made them twist too!"
"No, they're fine," Amber tries to console me, but I get the ladder and re-do them so they twist too. And actually, it wasn't very hard. Sometimes things get huge in your mind when they're actually really easy to fix. All I had to do was un-tape them from the wall, give it a bunch of turns, and stick it back.
Finally the room is dressed. We've got bunches of balloons everywhere, the greeting table is set up with a gold tablecloth, our place by the stage is dotted with candles and all ready for us, and the backroom is prettier than we've ever seen it. All that's left is the soundcheck, and we've gotta wait for the sound guy to do that.
"Go change," Amber urges. "I'll wait for the dude."

My friend Catherine lives literally, a minute's walk from the venue, and she's agreed to let me change at her place.
"Do you want some wine?" she asks me, while I plug in the curling iron and start pulling out my bra, corset, fake tits and fake hips.
"No thanks," I tell her. "I'll be drinking plenty later on."
Turning a boy's body into a girl's is a complicated feat but over the years I've gotten pretty good at it. Even so, it's a lot of work, and it takes an annoyingly long time. But I want to look good in the dress I bought the night before. It's this strapless seafoam green number. It's classy, but kind of flashy, and, in the wrong context, it might border on the outrageous. But it's perfect for Slowdance night.
Finally, I'm done, after putting a final corkscrew into those bits of hair I've left to dangle on either side of my face while the rest gets pulled back and up. I've never figured out what those things are called. Hairdressers probably know.
Catherine tells me she's coming by later, as I head on back out into the snow.

When I get back to Le Cagibi, some of our resident dancers are already there sporting the gold sashes Amber sewed together to designate them as such. There's already a couple of people I don't know sitting on the couch, the disco ball lights splash on them every once in a while.
I ask Amber how it's going and she tells me that it's pretty early yet. We decide to start at 9:30 instead of 9PM promptly, like we'd planned, even though we've got 40 songs to get through. I decide to go get a beer and warm up.
By the stage, I hang out with Angelina and Lisa, who are both resident dancers. Amber and I'd decided to have resident dancers because sometimes people are shy. I mean, I was shy most of high school. And while in the intervening years, I've gotten less so, I'm still shy when I don't know anyone. And so we thought that resident dancers, wearing something as loud and as faintly ridiculous as a shiny gold lamé sash, ready to dance with pretty much anyone, would be a wonderful way to break the ice and to gently coax wallflowers away from the wall and to bloom under the nurturing light of the disco ball.

Finally it's time to start. Me and Amber are both nervous. We're both a little apprehensive walking up to the stage, but we understand that we have to start, otherwise the thing would end at 2AM.
Montréal's a difficult city. It's understood here that things start an hour after when they say they will. In Toronto, where my brother lives, the leeway time is more a half an hour. I couldn't even imagine what it would be in Paris.
I mean, if we didn't have a playlist, we'd have waited until the place had more of a crowd, but we decided to just start. Sometimes that's all you can do.
"Hello?" I say into the microphone. I don't hear myself but that might just be because I have a low voice. I back away from it while Amber fiddles with the mixer board.
"Hello? Hello?" she says into it, and this time the whole room turns to look at us. Amber thanks everyone for coming and delineates a couple of things regarding the resident dancers and the little place near the back – the dance-card signing center where we've set up candles and pencils so that people can prepare, in advance, whom they're going to dance with for a particular song. Then I push the clickwheel on my iPod, and we're off.

For the first song, no one dances.
It's like a nightmare. It's so much like junior high it's ridiculous. The disco ball lights are the only things moving in the room. I think even our resident dancers, who are tasked with hunting out wallflowers, are a little shy tonight. We're all adults, but suddenly we're all shy.
Thankfully, Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" is a short song.
Then it's the Bangles with "Eternal Flame".
My co-organizer, Amber, gets down off the stage and dances with her partner, Mike, who was tabling the door. Finally, that breaks the ice and other people start drifting onto the floor, and dancing beside them. The resident dancers start going to people, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
Maybe it'll work out after all.

By "Sweet Jane", people are dancing fairly regularly. Amber tells me that people have to get warmed up, maybe get a couple of drinks in themselves first. And it works – the night needs to warm up. And eventually it does. I've even had a couple of dances.
It's pretty nice and intimate, to be dancing with someone. A lot of it is talking. It reminds me of the movies, like when you see the two stars at some dance, and they're just talking about things, and there are people in the background.
If there are people you know, it's a great way to catch up with someone, and if you don't know someone, it's nice because it's enough time to get to know the half-drawn parameters of a person, with the comfort of knowing that if you get tired of talking to them, that it's only a couple of minutes before you part. It's a little like speed-dating, only it's slow-dancing.

Suddenly we're at our first intermission, and by this time a lot of people have arrived. It really is true, that thing about how Montréal events always start an hour after they say they will. It's a little past 10 and we said we'd start at 9. All the unspoken things about a city are so important.
Amber comes up and asks me how I'm doing. I tell her that it's amazing that we're already a quarter way through. It certainly didn't feel like it. As it would turn out, the whole evening would zip by.
We put up the INTERMISSION sign on the stage and both go to get drinks.

It's a steady stream of people coming in during the night while me and Amber serve up the ballads. It's pretty beautiful. People are singing along with the songs. I see my girlfriend dancing with random people. I dance with random people. I see girls dancing with girls, boys dancing with boys, boys dancing with girls. It's a pretty special safe place we've created with this night, I think. One woman who comes is wearing this fabulous black frilly dress with huge poofy shoulder straps.
"Omigod!" I say to Amber, "She looks like she's from the eightie's!"
Another woman slips to the side of the stage when she arrives, kicks her boots off and dons this flashy pair of white pumps to go with her slit-up-to-the-hip black dress. I am touched that some people went to a lot of trouble to dress up. Some guys came in shiny shirts and ties. Another is wearing a suit jacket. Still other people of indeterminate gender are dressed in androgynous fancy outfits.
People just need an excuse, I think, to dress up.

Later on, during the next intermission, a couple of people who were there right at the beginning leave.
Thank God, I think. They didn't dance at all the whole night! They just sat on the couch!
But later I would learn that as a matter of fact, no matter how many people asked them to dance, they declined. They said that they were there for the music. Which is a mystery to me, seeing as I like to slowdance, but like my mother says, It takes all kinds to make a world.

Years ago I went to this summer burlesque event and at the afterparty, there was this DJ, I forget her name now, but all she would do was play bad songs. And if you went up to her, and requested something, she wouldn't have it. Or she would play them, but many songs later, and it wouldn't be their hit, it would be some obscure song. And then, in between the few good songs, it would be this generic dance shit. It was so infuriating. It's funny how anger inspires change. I said to my friend Catherine that night that if I ever became a DJ, that all I would do is play hits, "the most danceable songs on the planet, I would play."
And so now, in a slightly different context, I have my chance.
When me and Amber were picking the songs for the night, we had the disco ball rotating in my room as a kind of muse. We played the song, and looked up at the disco ball, and if it seemed that there was some correlation, and if we could imagine people slowdancing to it, then it was probably a go.
Of course, like any event, there are some songs that people responded to more than others. Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" had virtually everyone dancing. There was not one ass on a chair anywhere. Another favourite was Bon Jovi's "Bed of Roses". It's funny how the most overwrought, emotion-laden songs are the most fun to dance to. On second thought, actually, it makes complete sense.
We wanted to have those songs that would bring exhalations of recognition, those songs that some people might not have heard in years. But we also wanted those songs that would be completely slow-danceable to. I think we did alright.

Near the end of the evening, with only about five songs to go, I can tell that people could have danced all night, if we kept serving up the hits. It strikes me that if we had the right mix, we could have kept people dancing for probably another hour. Maybe even longer.
And then all of a sudden, it's over.
People in show business are always saying that you should leave them wanting more but I'm of a different mind-set. I think that if you're going to serve up a meal, you should serve up a full one. But the problem is that we didn't have any more songs planned. And so we finished it, and thanked everyone for coming, and people started to leave.
Remember this for next time, I tell myself, through my drunken haze, as I watch the teeming dancers from the stage. We'll have more songs next slowdance night, maybe even an Encore Set for the hardcore.

All in all, however, for our inaugeral Slowdance Night, it was a mad success.
It seemed as if the night served a need. One woman I danced with told me that in high school, she'd never been asked to dance, and so coming to the event, and being asked to dance, was very beautiful for her. Me, I was always very reticent during high school dances. And while maybe it's too much to say that putting this thing on was partly about helping me redeem my shy high school self, it's not entirely off the mark, either.
The next day, my friend Luna would call me and tell me that she danced with one girl who told her that she'd danced with more people in our one night that in all her high school years combined. Another woman Luna danced with had just gotten a divorce, and decided to make a night of it.
All this consolidated something me and Amber had been thinking about: There will be more, greater, and increasingly elaborate Slowdance Nights to come.
Please come to them!
-Sherwin

All slow dances, all night long!

2007-11-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

We have a lending library of resident dancers for all you wall flowers! This is a queer, kid, and senior friendly event. Dress fancy and get your dancecard filled.

Le Cagibi at 5490 St-Laurent Blvd (corner St. Viateur)
Friday, December 21st, 2007
9pm to 1am, $5 includes Dancecard/Corsage!