Gay Circus

Enough was enough, and I left. I have been locked inside for the whole day, trying to cram 63 lectures from the last four weeks into my brain in preparation for the four hour exam on Monday morning. It was enough, and I had to go do something else!

Anyways, a few days ago I saw this brochure advertising that the circus was in town. Not just any circus, but the Gay Circus! What immediately attracted me (besides the halfnaked people) was the following:

In the same way we can talk about the existence of a pop, rock o hippie culture, there is also a gay culture. We identify certain colors, music, lifestyle, mentality, amusement as genuinely gay. Only this would be reason enough for staging a show.

But Gay Circus goes beyond. Very often the circus has translated the partner dance to the trapeze, acrobatics or contortion. We frequently attend to circus performances that present a love story as the common thread of the show… but this is always between people of different sex! The acts in Gay Circus shows with pride homosexual love with the hope that one day future generations will be able to attend a “conventional” circus and find there, with normality, acts that now belong to Gay Circus.

Barcelona is probably the most 'openly gay' city I have ever been... surprising, since the vast majority of the country is devoutly Catholic. Men walk around holding hands, girls kiss on the streets in public, and nobody blinks or stares. And coincidentally the (Gay) Eurogames is being held here this weekend, so on the metro were these butch-looking women with short dyed hair, next to well-trimmed and sophisticated gay men.

You do not see something like this in the Netherlands, despite the fact the Netherlands was the first country in the world to 'legalise' gay marriage. It makes me wonder, how can the Netherlands still claim to be a liberal country when gay people walking hand in hand in the street are beaten up regularly? And today I just read that the Amsterdam Gay Pride this week will be "toned down", because the mayor is scared of offending the Muslim population... Talk about the progressiveness of the Christian right wing.

Anyways... at first, I weighed the options of whether I should go or not... On the one hand, the exam will be an assessment of my learning in the past few weeks, but on the other hand, I really have not been doing much 'fun' lately besides go to lectures and seminars....And though studying is important, eventually this afternoon I got so fed up of studying I just put on my clothes and headed down to the beach where the big tent was set up.

I would have told other people where I was going, were it not for the fact that most people were buried deep in their books and notes. Plus, the idea of a circus full of gay men and lesbians may not be everyone's idea of entertainment.

And it was an amazing experience, of lights, movingly choreographed music, and artfully crafted by sturdy muscles and trained athletes, fully displaying the imaginative and inspiring ways to portray the endurance and beauty of the human body. It was a display of open human sensuality between men and men, women and women, something I have never seen so openly and closely before. When you see what wonderful art these men and women can create with their bodies, you cannot but be proud. Suddenly the kissing straight couple in the corner became the minority, and it was somehow comforting to be part of the majority.

Well, it would have been nicer to have someone next to me besides couples that snuggled up together as they enjoyed the spectacle before us.