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Be part of building the future of same-‐sex dancing!

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HADASS ARMON Hadass has taught, choreographed and lectured within the dance profession for more than 25 years. She trained in Israel and went on to receive her teaching qualification in Ballet from the National Ballet School, Canada.

She commenced her professional teaching career at The National Ballet School, Canada; moving to New York University where she obtained an MA in Dance and Dance Education majoring in Choreography. Since, she has conducted extensive research focusing on the ‘holistic dancer’, for which she was granted a Wingate Scholarship. The research was done in collaboration with Central School of Ballet and Surrey University.

Since 2001 Hadass has been involved professionally with the Same sex Ballroom and Latin dancing scene. She is a qualified champion and competition adjudicator. Hadass draws on her extensive knowledge of Anatomy, movement and her professional background to create a unique, yet exciting, teaching style.

As a founding member of the UKSSDC and currently the female co-‐president of ESSDA, Hadass feels very strongly about:

-‐ the distinction between and the unison of same sex and GLBT dancing; -‐ introducing (mainstream) adjudicators to the diversity the scene offers; -‐ the development of set criteria from which all competitions are judged, creating a

more systematic classification method across competitions.


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DAVY BROCATUS Started ballroom and latin/american dancing at the age of 16.

3x All round Belgian Champion and represented Belgium, Australia, Wales and Scotland as Adult and Professional Ballroom Dancer.

Champion of New South Wales (Australia) Wales, Scotland, Birmingham, Northern England, East Coast (UK)

Semi Finalist at the UK Closed, French Open, Italian Open, Australian Open

Participated in all Major Championships, World and European Championships. Judging in Australia, South Africa, America, Europe, EuroGames, OutGames Montreal (C), GayGames Chicago (USA) and Cologne (D),... and many other Competitions all around the world. Chairman of Adjudicators at Outgames Antwerp 2013.

Founder of the EuroGames Antwerp 2007 and Outgames Antwerp 2013. Choreography for movie : "The Hessen Affair" (2009)

Judge for the Belgian series of "Strictly Come Dancing" -‐ "Sterren op de Dansvloer" since 2006 up to now and together with his husband Anatoly Nefedov owner of Dansstudio 1-‐2-‐3 and B&B Studios 1-‐2-‐3.


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HEATHER GLADDING, FISTD Heather has worked extensively as a dance professional for thirty-‐eight years as performer, choreographer, lecturer, teacher, adjudicator and coach. She trained and qualified at The Bill & Bobbie Irvine Dance Studio in 1979. She opened her first studio in West London, with her dance partner at that time Glenn Wright, in 1984. She gained a Fellowship with the ISTD and holds a British Dance Council Adjudicator’s license.

Heather has been involved in the same-‐sex dance scene for more than twenty-‐seven years. In 1993 she started and developed the women only ballroom and Latin dance scene in London. She also helped spearhead the change of discriminatory regulations within the ISTD dance examination system. She was also a founding member of the UKSSDC and remained on the board until she emigrated in 2015.

She co-‐owned a studio in Central London, with Hadass Armon, for fourteen years, which was predominately a LGBT venue. As well as training social dancers, medallists and s-‐s competitors Heather and Hadass coached, for many years, the first all male formation team Guyz in Sync. who won several European and Gay Games titles and also were semi-‐finalists in the ITV programme ‘Got To Dance’. Heather has worked tirelessly towards the inclusion and acceptance of same-‐sex dancers. Heather and Hadass have now opened s-‐s dance classes in Tel Aviv, Israel, the first in the Middle East.

Having been a member of ESSDA since its formation Heather has followed its journey. Being in attendance at nearly all its AGMs, every EuroGames, Gay Games and World OutGames, she has also been active in supporting ESSDA in many ways. Now she feels it is time to join the board and further advance same sex dancing not only in Europe, where it is strong, but also taking it forward to work with all the other s-‐s organisations across the world to build dance unity.


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I started dancing at the age of four. I entered my first international competition at the Blackpool Junior Dance Festival, at the age of six. I later went on to become European Champion 10-‐dance in 1994, silver medallist in the World 10-‐dance championship in 1993 & 1994. Youth World Champion in both Ballroom and Latin in 1991 and 1992. Norwegian Amateur Champion in Ballroom in 1994, 1997-‐2001, and Latin in 1992-‐1994. I reitred from my active competitive career in 1994. I have recently participated in two seasons of Strictly Come Dancing in Norway.

I am currently running my own accounting firm, some online e-‐commerce businesses whilst living out my passion for teaching same-‐sex dancing in Oslo.

KAI ANDRÉ LILLEBØ After judging the EuroGames in Helsinki I was determined to start with same sex dancing in Norway. Up until last autumn there were no active same sex dancers in Norway. We currently have about 10-‐20 dancers at various levels who are aiming to compete for the very first time in 2018. I started the teaching for free to help build up a stable group. There are many former professional gay and lesbian dancers in Norway and I hope to get more of them over the coming year to join in to help develop the Norwegian Same Sex Dance Association (NOSSDA), of which I am founder and chairman . We are already in full swing in preparation for our own international same sex competition in Oslo in June 2018 – “NEO18”.

ESSDA, as I have seen the organisation, has done good things for the same sex dance community by building up an organisation that has helped structure and shape the competition scene. However, I see that there are still opportunities to progress as an organisation and would very much like to be an active part of this journey. Recent events like the cancellation of the World Out Games will for sure lead to discussions and also proves that there will have to be organisations like ESSDA to support the local organisers of these events and provide governance to ensure that such European dance events meet our high standards going forward. I don’t want to go into too much detail in my introduction, but I feel that ESSDA should provide clear guidance and governance to host countries to ensure successful competitions for everyone involved, rather than having to run competitions independently in fear if hosting countries not meeting our expectations. For me, being part of large multi-‐sport events is crucial as we want to both promote Dance sport and it´s sporting profile which also be part of the celebrations of the LGBT+ community in International Sporting & Cultural Events.

As a new country to the same sex dancing scene I know that you need someone with a considerable amount of energy to help bring success to the organisation. Therefore, if I am elected as a board member, I will support ESSDA to bring non-‐participating countries to the foreground and encourage a greater participation amongst our European neighbours.

Of course, there are other things I would like to try to do, but all for the best for the dancers and their possibilities to be part of an including, competitive, but still social organisation.


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PATRICE NAUDIER I have been practicing same-‐sex dancing for nearly 4 years. I joined Rainbow Evidanse in 2013 and started with group courses. For 1,5 year I have trained for competition with a personal coach, first in standard mixed couple category and since last September, in men 10-‐dances, with Romain Drouet. So far, we have competed for France at the Nordic Open 2016, the Pink Jukebox 2017 and the Rendez-‐Vous de Paris 2017. We are registered to Berlin EC and plan to participate in the 11th Vienna Dance Contest. I began to work in Rainbow Evidanse, first by joining the Executive Board in 2015, as the deputy secretary, then, in 2016 as the co-‐chairman. Since then, I have initiated the reorganization of the association in order to improve the quality of teaching and the attractiveness of its activities. In 2016, I was also appointed the Paris 2018 Dance Coordinator. As such, I am in charge of organizing the 10th Gay Games and World Championships sport dance competitions. In this prospect, I organized the last Rendez-‐Vous de Paris as an insight of this event. I have also established a partnership between Rainbow Evidanse and the French Dance Federation (FFDanse) and have become a board member of its Paris Committee. By doing so, my concern is to promote same sex dance and same sex dance sport in France (through FFDanse) and at an international level, but also to ensure the full respect of the LGBT identities and relationships. As my concerns and values are totally in line with ESSDA ones, I am certain to meet ESSDA goals and missions. Moreover, the recent World Out Games crisis has proven how fragile our activity is and that no one can stand alone anymore. As an ESSDA Board Member, I will work to strengthen any cooperation favoring the success of the upcoming Gay Games and World Championship sport dance competitions. If I am not mistaken, France has never been actively involved in ESSDA management. I therefore wish to remedy this and thus contribute to a greater diversity of cultural identities on the Board of ESSDA.


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MARC SCHLEUTER Marc was elected as an ESSDA board member at the AGM in Stockholm August 2015.

Marc’s dance career started in 1984 competing with a standard formation team and in mainstream ballroom competitions reaching the German formation premier league and the A-‐Class. Fascinated by the same-‐sex dance events at the Cologne Gay Games 2010 he was looking for a male dancing partner and finally started at his first same-‐sex tournament in January 2012 and has been competing in the Senior and Adult Standard-‐Section since then.

Having benefit as a competitor from the dance competitions organized by ESSDA he now spends some time and effort supporting the same-‐sex dance community as a board member. Marc has setup, administrated and edited the website since October 2015. He also holds the role of treasurer.


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MICHAL VANÍČEK Education: 2017 – now: Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Theory and History of Art (Ph.D.) 2015 – 2017: Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Theory and History of Modern and Contemporary Art (M.A.) 2012 – 2015: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Art History (B.A.) 2008 – 2012: Academic Grammar School in Prague, A-‐Level in Czech, English, History and Art History (all A*) Michal is President and co-‐founder of the Czech Equality Dance Association (CEDA) and since 2013 also a Board member of ESSDA. He used to be an active same-‐sex dancer from 2010 till 2015. He was announced as the most successful Czech same-‐sex dancer four years in a row. With his two dancing partners, he reached important medals and titles from many international same-‐sex dance competitions, such as World and European Championships, Blackpool Same-‐Sex Dance Festival, competitions in Paris, Berlin, Linz, Vienna, etc. He is an international dance adjudicator, trainer, teacher, and in his professional life he works as a curator and researcher in the field of modern architecture and fashion.

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