‘Shakedown’ was a series of parties founded by and for African American women in Los Angeles that featured go-go dancing and strip shows for the city’s lesbian underground scene. Inspired by transwoman Mahogany who, as the mother of the scene, presided over queer strip shows and balls for non-heterosexual audiences in the 1980s, butch Ronnie Ron created, produced and presented the new shows. In them, the largely female clientele from the ‘hood’ slipped dollar notes into lap dancers’ panties while celebrating lesbian sexuality to pulsating hip-hop beats.

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The music. The spectacle. The grace. The costumes. Ballroom dance is enjoying a renaissance here in America, as well as abroad, embraced by everyone from grandparents to grad students. Ballroom hoofing has even become a widespread competitive event, dubbed dancesport. But there’s one form of this storytelling-in-motion that is not seen in mainstream venues: same-sex couple dancing. Yet it too is surging in popularity, remaking lives and bodies, along with popular culture and gender politics.

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