Hot Spring Splash

Saturday, April 20, 1985
The Concert Hall

In the initial years of GCDC dances, there were several complaints about the lack of women’s music played downstairs; while women’s music was regularly featured in the basement, some participants pushed for more. In response, GCDC organisers decided that the downstairs DJ must “play at least 2 hours of ‘women’s music’” and that the DJ would receive $50 to purchase women’s music records. Downstairs DJs, like Ilona Laney, frequently advocated for more funds to be allocated downstairs to “improve the atmosphere.” Deb Parent became a regular downstairs DJ in 1985 and recalls the space:

“Downstairs, you could have a conversation and share a table. There were no places to sit upstairs. So, for folks who were looking for the kind of atmosphere where you could sit down and have a table with friends, or with a sweetie, downstairs was the place to be. I think its appeal grew over the years, with the variety of music. A lot of feminists didn’t come out through the bars, a lot of lesbians came out through feminism. So, it took a little while until they thought, ‘Well, I know Deb and I know her music so I think I’ll be okay there’. But it was a different space for my peer group, who would normally come to, let’s say, the TRC [Toronto Rape Crisis] dances. Getting that crossover took a bit of time. Downstairs was still predominantly women.”

In the 1984 survey, many women requested “women only events” and that more women’s music be played downstairs, along with more progressive and new wave music. Women respondents also complained about the downstairs lighting and that videos played upstairs at GCDC dances were sexist and/or too violent.

In 1985, a the GCDC Women’s Committee reported that women don’t attend the GCDC dances because they feel them to be male-oriented, many can’t afford the price, “resent being relegated to the downstairs,” and are displeased with the music. They suggested that a dance be held for women only and run by women only, with funds raised designated to groups with lesbian members and to increasing the visibility of the GCDC within the women’s community. A women’s dance never occurred, instead GCDC organisers continued to try to make the usual GCDC dances more appealing to women.