Sleaze Ball 2009

One of the major events of the Mardi Gras celebrations in Sydney, Australia is Sleaze Ball held at the beginning of Fall for us northern hemisphere types  or Spring for those southern Down Under folk. The party, a bit  smaller than the main Mardi Gras party that follows the Mardi Gras parade, is a costume party held in Hordern Pavilion & Dome.  This year Sleaze Ball is on October 3, 2009 and the theme is Game On.

The costumes are, I think, the key to the party’s success and the legion of dedicated supporters and fans.  Being in costume allows one to express yourself in a manner as flamboyant and out-there as you wish, the only limitations being your imagination and a marginal sense of public decorum. Wearing a costume also provides a disguise, a license to reveal your “normally secret alter ego”  it is liberating. Certainly Sleaze Ball, in my experience, is the party where strangers become immediate acquaintances, communication on the dance floor flows freely between all and is vocal and tactile, not the surreptitious eye games of affected glances, sideways looks, demure longing stares.

A couple of years ago we attended Sleaze Ball with a theme of Zirkus, the exaggerated escapism and hedonism of the German circus of the 1930’s. We wore bright blue and white form fitting spandex one piece body suits, the fabric was covered with silver glitter. Accessories included matching wrist bands, trailing ribbons at the waist and, in random pattern, lots of little mirrors sewn on to the fabric. We were the “Flying Sky”  trapeze artists. Under normal circumstances, I would not have been caught dead wearing  such an outfit yet with total comfort we walked up Oxford St en route to the party, fielded several comments from bystanders ranging the gamut from insults to compliments which we tossed back with the aplomb of a tennis pro’s volley on the court at Wimbledon. Hordern Pavilion had been transformed into the BIG TOP, small platforms were located at different levels on the over arching structure defining the tent. Jugglers, Fire eaters, Flag and Fire dancers performed on these stages throughout the night supporting the circus atmosphere of the earth-bound clowns, strolling jugglers, stilt walkers and army of other circus fantasy characters. Smiling, happy groups  kept forming, dissolving and reforming as people moved around the dance floor. It seemed everyone was everyone else friend. The overwhelming memory of that night is the warmth, congeniality and humour of the hundreds with whom we talked, danced, chatted, teased, flirted and admired.

We leave for Sydney tomorrow, with our costumes packed and grand anticipation for what will unfold on Saturday night in the Hordern Pavilion & Dome.