Side Steps

Newcomer

Queer Lapdance Collective

The Queer Lapdance Collective (QLDC) from Cologne dances for queers – collectively, defiantly, and with joy. Founded after a workshop by the Berlin group MAGIC DYKE* at the 2023 Britney X Festival, the self-organized collective creates spaces in which gender, body, sexuality, and desire become not only visible but also tangible. Community care and queer empowerment are at the center — queer joy becomes political practice. At this year's Britney X, they filled Depot 1 at the Schauspiel Köln and had the audience cheering until they were hoarse, even in tears. The performance follows a clear rule: "Consensus is key. And sexy. And damn complex." No intrusive touching, but conversations. And these are at least as erotic as any gesture — an intimate moment of trust. Thus, the gaze shifts. The moment a chosen person sinks into the wooden chair, the audience also sinks into the fabric armchair — knowing that pleasure is being respectfully shared in a space of consent. And this applies not only on stage: "Even in the rehearsal process, consent is not just established once and then checked off," says bender boy, "but renegotiated again and again." A principle that established companies in rigid structures could learn from.

"A space of trust is created because we work with little hierarchy and a needs-oriented approach," Rebelio adds. In addition to physical training, the collective meets once a month for a plenary session: a space for reflecting on differences and sharpening their shared self-understanding. The QLDC stages difference — sensually, loudly, and powerfully. The choreographies deconstruct hegemonic gender stereotypes and joyfully create their own: sometimes as a soft 90s boy band, sometimes as cowboys and butches in pink thongs. On the same stage where diversity was often claimed but rarely realized by the former house company, Ballet of Difference, the QLDC showcases lived difference: alongside normative and norm-fit bodies, there are also queer, curvy, trans*, and non-binary, gender-fluid performers who are visibly and relentlessly beautiful.

For the future, the collective wants to showcase even more of its own stories and contradictions, "challenging the fine line between empowerment and vulnerability, because it is precisely this simultaneity that is so powerful and beautiful," says Quing of Chaos. But where can such formats take place? The end of alpha males is still a utopia: The curtailment of the Britney X festival due to the change in directorship at the Schauspiel Köln shows that spaces for queer, pleasurable work are not a given.

From beta boy’s perspective, there’s no reason to play nice: “We’ll stay complicated and demanding; when we take up space, it’s on our own terms.” A clear message to the alpha males: no interest in consent and collectivizing? Then slide right off our lap.

Thaddäus Maria Jungmann