The combination of flowing skirts and local band Frivolry made for an “afternoon of dancing, fun, and queer joy” to kick off Pride Month the first weekend of March. Organised by Dunedin Pride, the traditional Scottish and Irish folk band played a Ceilidh (a Celtic barn dance, pronounced “kay-lee”) in the Botanical Gardens, open to all. Critic Te Ārohi could not resist tagging along.
The band taught the crowd the dances as they went, and called out the moves alongside the tunes. Meihana Pōtiki-Grayling, Chairperson of Dunedin Pride, said that the organisation “has always tried to create safe spaces for the queer community, very out and proud in public with our rainbow flags and our little whimsical outfits.” Many of the outfits were in fact straight off a Pinterest board, except for the surprising amount of neon Crocs.
Meihana emphasised that Pride Month is “all about creating queer joy. At the moment, there's a lot of queer fear and anger, but it's really important that we leave space for joy.” And neon crocs, apparently. Elliot Weir, treasurer, agreed that they were creating “a space for people to come and dance, to be frivolous.” We see what he did there! He added, “It's a scary time for the queer community at the moment, but when everyone comes together it can be less scary.”
The event was open to all, and all came – couples young and old, groups of twenty-somethings in corsets and cowboy boots, and parents with young children (our future generations do not appear to be dance inclined). The formations were lopsided, the claps were mistimed, and every single person there had a massive grin on their face.
Meihana asked the crowd to “come join me so I won’t be sad up here by myself dancing alone,” and the crowd did as they were told. Spinning and laughing, the strength of the “small but mighty” queer community was evident. In Meihana’s words, “we might be in the deep south, but Dunedin is a much more open and accepting place than people believe it to be.” Elliot added that “we are here, we aren’t going anywhere. We have a whole month of events planned and hope to see as many people at them as possible.”
Indeed the month lined up is rife with events, including a return of the drag show SoliloQueens (+ Kings), a series of events run with the Hocken, a pride church service, Dungeons and Drag Queens, crafternoons, and many more. To find out more about these events, check out Dunedin Pride’s Facebook and website and get involved – “That's what we are trying to do this pride month: really bring everyone together."