Andreas Trumer and Stefan Conradi, from the Sports club Pink Ballroom in Berlin, participated as pair dancers at the Gay Games 2010 in Standard, category 35 to 45 plus. José Ospina-Valencia met them in the Maritim Hotel, Tournamentplace for this event.
What do these figures mean?
Stefan: Both must have reached the age.
What is the difference between your dancing competition, and those one can usually watch on TV?
Andreas: They are same-sex dancers. Two women or respective two men are dancing with each other.
Stefan: There is another difference as well: Among heterosexuals it is clear who takes the lead, that would be the man- while the woman follows. Among same-sex couples both could, though you can hand over the lead in between. That can be done quite stylishly and it looks great.
And who takes the lead among you?
Stefan: I do
Why?
Stefan: Because I am one head taller. That’s important. It is more difficult to lead someone if you are smaller. I usually do lead, even when dancing with other partners.
So stature is of importance when leading?
Andreas: Yes, though among same-sex competitions there are always couples who deal that differently, as to here at the Gay Games in Cologne. Else I have a dance partner, who is a bit shorter. At equality dance that is possible without being disqualified on the spot. Dancing at the Gay Games can be considered as broad band sport, that permits more than in the heterosexual events. That’s good.
Can you be disqualified for leading- mistakes?
Stefan: No. That could happen if you, for example, wear the wrong clothing. There are rules for that as well at the Gay Games. En edge would be if a man showed up in female clothing. I believe that’s not possible. And you have to wear the correct shoes - you cannot simply show up in common shoes or sport shoes. That is regulated as it is at other international tournaments.
So a transsexual has to wear male clothing?
Andreas: That hasn’t happened yet. Though there are always men and women, wearing combinations. Women sometimes wear wide trousers that look like a skirt but still they are trousers. Often they also wear a dress with trousers underneath. Here you can see various possibilities that you could never see among heterosexual couples.
Stefan: Among heterosexuals the men wear tails and the women choose a ball gown. Our suits depend on your advancing level, quite different. For example, two men in tails or simply in shirt and tie. Or extravagant suits for Latin dance. All colours are thinkable, though black dominates here again.
Why and how did you start to dance professionally?
Andreas: Not entirely professionally. At least we are member of a sport club. As the Gay Games were about to take place in Sydney, they advertised for it in Berlin, where my boyfriend pointed it out. Until then it was unthinkable for me to compete with another man at a competition. Though it was great. Dancing at Café Fatal in Berlin always was fascinating. Their Coaches are very professional. And having the choice in dancing to lead or to follow is great.
When did you dance with another man for the first time?
Stefan: Well, that’s a long time ago. I was maybe 26 years old. Standard dance fascinated me already as a teenager. For a long time gay-lesbian dancing was impossible. Then I met the SO36 from Berlin. There Café Fatal takes place (SO 36 is the historical name of the post office South-east36 in Berlin Kreuzberg). I was entirely fascinated. They have a super atmosphere. It is really great.
How did you become a dance-couple?
Andreas: Usually we do not dance together. But our dance partners were unavailable. To our fortune, there is an open board for dancers, as we are in the same sport club. Joining was predicted for us. Now we are glad that we decided to join the Gay Games instead of just watching them.
Stefan: I had only entered the Gay Games in Cologne for sprinting. But Andreas asked me if I would join with him for entering dancing as well. I was very glad then, we trained together and it ran quite smoothly.
Why did you decided to join the Gay Games?
Andreas: I participated already in the Gay Games and Out Games and the atmosphere was great. At such an international tournament you meet couples that you wouldn’t meet otherwise. If you are dancing yourself it is hard to just sit and watch. It is fascinating to see how the couples move. It is great already, to hear the music.
How many couples are dancing at the Gay Games Cologne 2010?
Stefan: There are about 400 altogether. They are dancing in various levels and age categories.
Do you have extra new steps for the Gay Games?
Stefan: You can only obtain good results by continuously training. We considered weeks ago, what we could do together. So we now have a fixed choreography that we are going to dance. However, now comes the fact that makes dancing so exciting. If there is another couple dancing crosswise to you or directly in front of you, you will have to improvise with your standard steps, to get back in your own steps again.
Andreas: There are couples in the A-Levels doing new choreography, so that they are not dancing the same stuff all the time. These couples are trying to interpret the music. So it will be hard to perform well.
If there are many couples on the dance floor that are being judged all at the same time, are there no tricks in use to make space for yourself or to bring others out of rhythm?
Stefan:... with the pomps! (laughter)
Andreas: Not on purpose. But sometimes it gets crowded. Especially in the introductory rounds it happens that more advanced couples have to share the dance floor with less experienced couples. Certain good couples dance much faster, and take more space. It’s there it happens, that less experienced couples have to seek cover. However, that certain tricks are used, you can’t exclude entirely.
So it is not regulated how many squaremeters you have for your use?
Stefan: You have the entire square. For Standard dance you should use the entire square. In a common tournament there are 10 couples on the dance floor, and that one is a bit smaller than a Volleyball field. The couples dance and follow the same music and will be comparably judged. However, there are really big competitions, such as the Blaue Band in Berlin, where there are so many Couples on the square that you barely have any space at all. In the finals there are 6 couples though.
What does dancing mean to you?
Andreas: I am trying to find that out myself. It simply is a fascination that I felt even as a child: Combining music and movement. It is the variety of music: Sometimes it is a slow waltz, sometimes it is a quickstep. There are people competing in all ten dance styles. Dancing is what I am myself: A good mixture of everything.
Stefan: I have been dancing for a long time, with delight. Even alone at the disco. It’s fun to portray the character of music in some way. With a professional insight with dancing, the dancing in a discotheque grows more variously.
When dancing Tango, Pasodoble or Twist, do you pay attention to the history behind the music?
Andreas: Not too much. Even though it’s thrilling to learn about the development of dancing. I’ve read about how certain dances are introduced to Europe, and even why certain things are called different things.
How could you inspire a techno-dancer for your dance program?
Stefan: That would be difficult. Techno is very strong through its beat, aligned to its bass. Standard music has other specific elements: For the slow waltz it is the ¾ beat, that’s an entirely different way of dancing. Though the Cha cha cha, with its high tempo and strong markings, could be interesting for someone from the techno- scene. However, a real raver has neither use for Standard, nor for Latin.
Andreas: Certain ravers would like to show their exposed torsos, and that is not possible within Standard dances. That would possibly be a reason for disqualification.
And what type of music will be played at your competition?
Andreas: We don’t know that yet. The music plays 1:30 or 2min according to the new regulations. You don’t know the titles that will be played. The only thing you do know is that there will be a slow waltz. That makes it exciting. It happens that the music turns out too slow for the choreography. Therefore it will not work to just replay your choreography.
Stefan: In the A-categories of the Standard there are five different dances: the slow waltz, the Tango, the Wiener waltz, the slow fox and the Quickstep, in that order. For the less advanced categories, they drop the Wiener waltz and the slow fox. The music is given by the jury, if it’s Glenn Miller or an unknown Band you will first find out when the music starts. There is music for the slow waltz, where you don’t hear the rhythm. As rhythm is the primary judgment criteria, you will have to master the first difficulties if you don’t hear it. After that follows some fine-tuning: how you set the accents, the phrases,.. everything that you know from the music you can portray in dancing and can vary it within the frame of standard steps.
What medal are you counting on in Cologne? (laughter)
Andreas: It is great if you make it to the final. It’s a good sign as well if you make it among the 6 favourites. As we don’t know the international couples, it remains dramatic. You can quite easily fail already in the introductory round. Although I did win a Gold-medal at the Out Games in Montreal in category D, for the amateurs.
Andreas: With my previous dance partner we made it to the B-Category. Though we won in Montreal at the C-category.
And what is your Impression of the dance competition at the Gay Games in Cologne?
Andreas: It is great that it takes place! And in such a wonderful ambient ballroom (salon Maritim from the hotel with the same name). That requires a lot of work and preparation. It is great to dance in such an ambience, and in front of such an international audience. It is something special just to attend. Even though the result may not turn out as well as desired, I am glad it did work out with Stefan.
Stefan: Fun is what matters most in dancing. Should we try to calculate any results, that would be difficult. What I do like as well is the atmosphere here. At the first training we’ve seen couples from the competitors, dancing to such a great standard, that they could be considered as favourites. That’s thrilling.
Have fun, and good luck!
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