Archives for Music

Outside, looking in

Veteran gay activist Ted Brown, who came out before LGBT people had any rights in the UK, has dedicated his life to combating racism and homophobia since joining the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in 1970, after meeting a group of activists picketing The Boys in the Band in London’s West End. Ted Brown had been aware of his feelings for other boys at school when he was 11 or 12, but it was the discovery of a Tom of Finland book in a Popular Books store in New Cross, London, when he was 15 that convinced him this was not a phase. “I

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Answering the call of the dancefloor

He was playing Donna Summer records at his sister’s house parties when he was still at primary school, won a DJ contest when he was still a teenager in Italy, and has been spinning at Horse Meat Disco for more than a decade. Who better to DJ our preview party than Severino Panzetta? From the moment we started organising the preview night for We Raise Our Hands In The Sanctuary at The Albany this summer, our first choice to DJ the after-party was Severino Panzetta, the languidly approachable resident at Horse Meat Disco, the south London gay night that no less an authority than legendary

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Dancing to a different beat in Deptford: from Outdance to We Raise Our Hands

  Back in the late 1980s, the Albany used to host a weekly LGBT club night that attracted hundreds of revellers from the local community and beyond every Saturday. Former promoter Brendan Nash explains how it all came about. The Albany in Deptford has a fantastic tradition of developing LGBTQ work like our new show We Raise Our Hands In The Sanctuary, which tells a gay friendship story set in the 1980s London underground gay club scene. Around the same time they scheduled a week of research and development for this show as part of their Hatched new writing programme,

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We are all dancers

Choreographer Mina Aidoo talks to Inky Cloak about her approach to choreographing the trailer for our new show. What drew you to the project to choreograph the trailer for We Raise Our Hands In The Sanctuary? Disco! That was it. I really love disco music. I already knew Earth Wind & Fire and all the classic American acts, so it was fascinating to explore some different aspects of the genre through the references you gave me, such as early ’80s boogie (So You Wanna Be A Star by Mtume) and Italo disco (Spacer Woman by Charlie). It helped situate me in

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