Feverpitch

Friday, September 4, 1981
The Concert Hall

In September 1981, the GCDC organised their dance Feverpitch to coincide with Labour Day weekend and the Cabbagetown Gay Softball League World Series tournament. This dance was announced on the phoneline 923-GAYS–an audio voice recording that people could call to learn about gay and lesbian-oriented events in Toronto–for the three weeks leading up to the event. Feverpitch was also advertised in The Body Politic and in the programs distributed at the softball tournament. 

This dance was the first of many to be held at the Masonic Hall at 888 Yonge Street. Despite the rental cost being more than double that of the St. Lawrence Market venue, GCDC meeting minutes note that the Masonic Hall “seems to be the ideal place for our type of dance,” and that “the owners seem to be much more cooperative and the facilities would be ours for the entire day.” 

“I had no idea whether the Masonic Temple would be at all interested in talking to anybody that’s gay. It turned out they were incredibly supportive. They bent over backward to help us. The people I met there became lifelong friends.”

- Rob Stout, GCDC Organiser

The GCDC dances at the Masonic Hall lasted all through the night and into the next morning, when they finally ended at 6 a.m. The Masonic Hall had two dance floors–one downstairs and one upstairs-- far enough apart that dancers couldn’t hear the music from the other space. The two dance floors meant that a wider variety of music could be spun to attract and entertain people with different musical tastes.

“From a DJ’s point of view, the Masonic Temple had less than ideal acoustics and the sound from the speakers would create terrible feedback, making mixes much more challenging than normal.”

- Bob Harrison Drue, GCDC DJ

At the Feverpitch dance, Ilona Laney DJ-ed the downstairs level while Robert Stout DJ-ed upstairs. Because of this new format, the record budget was doubled from $60 to $120. 

"The GCDC became extremely successful after they moved to the Masonic Temple for a few reasons: it was on the subway line, so it was easy to get to, and there were no windows that meant people outside could not see into the dance floor, so dancers could be secure in knowing nobody would see them. It was a big space–a perfect space to dance."

- Alan Miller, GCDC Volunteer 

At $5,534, the net profit from Feverpitch was even more than that from the Summer Days dance held a few months prior. 

“With the GCDC at the Masonic Temple, there were basically three levels that you could be in: downstairs was more of an alternative space, the main level was high-energy disco, and there was a balcony area where people, if they wanted to, could go and there was certainly necking and other things that were happening up there. It gave more variety to people.”

- Ron Merko, GCDC DJ and Volunteer