Charleston: A Night From the Twenties

Saturday, January 23, 1982
The Concert Hall

The two dance floors at the GCDC dances held at the Masonic Hall catered to different crowds:  the large upstairs dance floor  played disco music for a predominantly gay male crowd, and the  smaller, more intimate downstairs dance floor , played more varied music and was where lesbians tended to congregate. 

“There were a lot of women that liked the upstairs dance beat. But most women were in the basement. Lot of people would definitely not be upstairs. The music downstairs was quieter. They played women’s music, and the various DJs who were in charge of the downstairs dance floor had money to buy records. There were a lot of men downstairs as well. It was often difficult to get to the bar on the first level. But you could go downstairs, get a ticket and get a beer right away. It was definitely a different vibe. It was a good way to escape a lot of the chaotic energy happening upstairs. More space to relax, more of a chance to talk with people”

- Alan Miller, GCDC Volunteer

For the Charleston-themed dance of January 1982, GCDC organisers agreed that the downstairs area, popular with lesbians and younger attendees, be given more attention. This was contentious—minutes show that one unnamed organiser “felt that these two groups did not account for many bar sales and was reluctant to encourage specialised usage.”

“Downstairs was much more a mixture of music. We would do everything from reggae to what we would call ‘political music’, whether it was the Parachute Club, or Cyndi Lauper. It tended to be music that, at that time, was more popular. We committed the ‘sin’ of playing slow music, right? Ha! So, people could dance up close to each other. There was a variance in tone, in beat, and in tempo. The ceiling was a lot lower so it was more intimate in some ways. I think women loved to come downstairs, as did men. Not every man liked that upstairs scene. If they got tired of the disco beat upstairs, they could come downstairs and some just stayed downstairs because of that variety. For lots of men, and especially men who had close women friends, downstairs was often the place to be.”

- Deb Parent, GCDC DJ and Volunteer

To encourage lesbian participation in GCDC dances, organisers decided that a special edition women’s flyer would be designed to be circulated in women’s bars to promote the Charleston dance. This poster specified that it was a “Lesbian and Gay Dance” and described the downstairs dance floor as featuring “women’s music” in addition to rock and new wave.

“The space downstairs was a better space for people who did not want to be around a lot of people sweating. Downstairs there was slow dancing as well, which was something that you would not have on the main level. Deb would do a mixture of Top 40s and, oftentimes, old soul. In terms of both tempo and the type of music, we had a lot more freedom to play downstairs than they did on the main floor. The music style upstairs would be much more similar to what you would hear in a bar. The tempo upstairs would be from about anywhere from 126 beats per minute up to about 140. Downstairs, we were extremely varied. You could be as slow as say 88 beats per minute up to 160.”

- Ron Merko, GCDC DJ and Volunteer