The Paganini Theater in Rome hosted a performance organized by two dance schools. The show was introduced by words that push me to reflect. The director of the theatre, Alfonso Paganini, in welcoming the audience, closed his speech with a phrase that I found somewhat embarrassing. Inviting fathers in the room to enroll their children in his dance school, he added that fathers did not have to fear if their sons wanted to attend classical dance because this would not turn them gay: “I would like to say one thing to fathers: if you have a son and he wants to be a classical dancer, put the strange thought of him becoming gay out of your head,” the well-known dancer and choreographer said verbatim.
I couldn’t keep quiet, I replied that the children in question are gay or not regardless of a barre class. I don’t know if Paganini heard me, however even if he had he didn’t reply. I find his words unacceptable for a number of reasons. The way he posed the question, being homosexual is a negative thing, to be avoided, so much so that he felt like reassuring parents by saying that classical dance will not turn their kids gay, as if being gay were a disgrace.
His words offended the intelligence of those present, did he really believe that the audience in the room was so ignorant as to think that being homosexual or not depends on attending a dance class? Did you try a joke to get the audience’s applause? Well, can you make a joke like this when kids are still committing suicide because of homophobic bullying?
In a difficult moment, in which attempts are being made to deprive the LGBT community of rights already acquired previously, in which hatred and discrimination are spreading, after the Capitoline Pride parade (where I hadn’t seen so much participation since World Pride (signal that civilized people cannot and do not want to submit to ignorance and hatred) and a series of crowded demonstrations – statements like those of Paganini cannot be tolerated, even if it was a joke that came out badly.
The managers of the dance schools that performed, Antonella Ricchiuti and Luisa Del Grosso, when asked about the incident, were keen to clarify: “We and all our students dissociate ourselves from what was said freely on stage and from those ideas. We were not aware that he would speak. We did not participate in any way in this thing. Above all, we don’t want anyone to feel offended and we’re sorry for this, obviously it wasn’t our intention. We danced on that stage with a completely different spirit.”
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