At Janny 's

Friday 17th of June, Second Day of Eurogames in Utrecht

My Hungarian guests were dancing beautifully. Vanda and her partner were competing in the C-section and I thought they were great. A wooden floor was laid out in the stunning Icehockeyhall at Vechtsebanen with beautiful colored lights.

I understood the competition had started out on a difficult track. The organization had so many entrees in the contest, that the site of the ballroomdancing had been changed ten days prior to the games. So many people for the qualifying rounds... When I came to the site at 11.15 the qualification rounds were still going on. It was my first time at same sex couples ballroomdancing. I met another host of four Hungarian women. She had driven the women early in the morning from Amsterdam to Utrecht. For this other hostess ballroomdancing was also new. We looked and looked and with every higher rank group competing it was more stunning.

One of the participants on the side already knew who of the women couples would probably win in the most advanced group A. Two very skinny women, one tall and dark, one blond and a bit smaller with nice hairdo, both wearing a tuxedo. I also thought they were the best, but secretly I would have loved that other women would win; women with a more 'ordinary lesbian' look. In the higher-ranking groups all couples were very much dressed up in ballroomdancing clothing. The majority of the couples dressed in the same outfit, both men and women. Not very many women wore dresses. It was not only gays and lesbian in the competition. As it was a samesex couples competition also heterosexual same sex couples were in the competition. I met a mother and daughter from Amersfoort, who were dancing in Tilburg. They were dressed in exactly the same clothes. It looked fine. I introduced them to the radioreporter from RTY Utrecht for an interview. "When we are dancing, it is just about dancing", one of the women said. But they complained about the number of couples on the floor. Many couples bumped into each other while dancing and I even saw a male couple rolling on the floor. I felt very sorry for them.

My guests from Hungary were with a group of other Hungarians (m/v). Two of them did not speak much English at all and they had an interpreter Hungarian-English with them. I made a few beautiful photographs of the women couple dancing. They both had sparkling red tops on, they were not very tall and it looked very moving when they performed their dances. The women had something about them that is different from gays and lesbians from Western countries. They still looked vulnerable and open and eager. We all applauded the dancers and some of them got big cheers from the crowds. I met an older German heterosexual couple from Berlin. They were in their sixties and originally came from the part of Germany that is now Poland. The couple was in a dancing school with gays, lesbians and mixed couples all-together. The heterosexuals had come along to cheer on their buddies. I thought it very good and very sweet and I told them about the Midsummer Nightparty. It turned out that is will be only on two minutes walking distance from their hotel. They said they would come.

I stayed in the dancer section all the time. Many couples danced and practiced in the side space, while others were competing. My guests had not wanted breakfast in the morning. They were probably too nervous. The other two, who are in the badminton competition, were still in bed, when I left at 9 o'clock this morning. I hope they did not miss their time slot. I told their friends, that I am not their mother; they can take care of themselves.

Early this morning I visited the opening ceremony of the swimming in the Kwakel. It was very hot and damp in the pool. My camera was completely blurred from the damp. Neptune came with dressed up men dragging a carrier round the pool. The organising group had asked two ex-professional synchrone swimming ladies to perform at the opening ceremony. Syncrone swimming is a same sex sport and up till now only women have competed in it officially. Now (gay) men are claiming that space for themselves as well. One old grey gay men in a golden swimming suit performed with one of the women in the ceremony. It was okay, but he could not match the grace and beauty of the same sex performance. The gay man who organised the ceremony asked me later to come and join his musical performance groups for amateurs, where I could get the part of a "grandmother". I will check out his website.

Also talked to Derek, a gay male volunteer, who is all over the place all the time with his rollator. He worked on tuesday, wednesday and thursday in the Jaarbeurs and now with the swimming. As a native English speaker he had translated, checked and corrected all the communication into English. All the press releases and the texts on the website. Somebody had complimented him on the quality of his work. The text in English was even better than the original in Dutch. He beamed with pride.

Older gays and lesbians are the backbone of the organizing and volunteering groups. I see them everywhere, doing a great job. They are so service oriented and so good. I love them all. Great to meet so many older gay men, who live in Utrecht. A wonderfull bunch of lively and spirited people. They danced the night away in the front row at the opening ceremony. Those gay men just enjoy themselves and loved to cheer on the wonderful singer Gladys Grace.

My first impression of her was amazing. She is a woman. She is a woman of colour. She has a great body. She is vibrant and enthousiastic. But I could only see her as a drag queen. She is the perfect model for drag queens. Have seen hundreds more of her type of person in the gay scene over the last thirty years, who all were men, but looked and behaved just like her.... Very confusing.... No wonder the guys and girls all cheered her on. She must not have known what happened to her.

Janny Nieboer