André Aram
In the 1980s, in the most libertine and festive period of the year, feathers and sequins were not restricted to women who paraded in Rio’s sambadrome. The Gala Gay ball, always held on Carnival Tuesday, between the last day of parades and Ash Wednesday, which ended the festivities, being the greatest representation of diversity in the festivities. The event was broadcast live across the country into the early hours of the morning, generating peak audiences.
The premise of the ball was simple. There was no dress code, but most people went in costume. In addition to mounted transsexuals, many foreigners and supporters were masked, mixing discretion with adornment. Everyone join in the fun.
On TV, images from inside Scala (a now-defunct nightclub that was located in Leblon, in the south of Rio, and belonged to Spanish businessman Chico Recarey) showed a euphoric audience, dancing to the sound of marchinhas and frevo. They were interspersed with the external ones, showing the entrance of drag queens and transgender people.
Gala Gay made its debut in 1982 at Canecão, in Botafogo. The success was resounding, with around 5,400 people, which meant a few more years at the mythical venue. In 1985 (with the right to be repeated years later), the dance also had a brief stint at the Help nightclub, located in Copacabana, before settling at Scala.
Despite the nickname, the massive presence was of trans women. An illustrious presence at the ball, Argentine drag queen Isabelita dos Patins made one of the most glorious appearances aboard a limousine as Queen of the Gay Gala in 1996.
On another occasion the vehicle was also special. “It was a car from 1900 or so, but it only drove one block, so it was towed to the corner of Scala, then I got in it and arrived in this kind of jalopy, it was a scandal”, he recalls, laughing.
The drag queen has fond memories of the heyday of the dance. “It was very chic, we had a cabin with everything good, I eternally miss Rogéria, Elke Maravilha… We really lived the golden years, things that will never come back”, she laments.
MAGAZINE COVER
On the red carpet at the ball, the most striking trans women pleaded for a few minutes of fame in front of the cameras. This moment could lead to a photo in a magazine. “We went to the newsstand to look at Manchete and Fatos & Fotos magazines to see if we had appeared in them, it was a hassle”, says trans businesswoman Kassandra Taylor, 57, a regular visitor.
“The gays held on to money all year round to buy the invitation and go to the ball in glory”, she recalls, who was champion of the Pantera do Carnival competition in Rio de Janeiro in 1987. At the time, there was even an “extra gay” edition of Fatos & Photos. Isabelita dos Patins graced the last cover, in 2000, alongside Roberta Close, Lola Batalhão (1956-2014) and Tamara Bonecker.
But it wasn’t just the LGBTQIA+ community that attended the Gala. “Straight” personalities were also present, such as Elza Soares (1930-2022), who performed at the ball, and the actress Lady Francisco (1935-2019), among other famous people. “There you would find Chiquinho Scarpa, Claudia Raia, many artists”, he lists. “Sometimes, I went with Roberta [Close]and we left halfway through the dance to eat at some snack bar (laughs).”
AUDIENCE PEAKS
On TV, broadcasts of the ball usually started after midnight and went on until 4 am. A team of reporters, including Monique Evans and Otávio Mesquita, conducted fun interviews with revelers. In addition to them, names such as Léo Áquilla, actor Gerson Brenner and former model Jane Bezerra, among other figures, attended the Gala.
The competition for ibope was fierce, and it was not uncommon for Globo to win. Mesquita, who covered the ball for the now-defunct Manchete, Band and SBT, remembers the feat: “It was a lot of fun, the gays love me, I always had a lot of affection and respect for them, and we beat Globo, once it scored 22 points” .
With the success of the televised ball, families gathered on Rua do Scala in Leblon to see up close the arrival of anonymous and famous personalities, in skimpy or luxurious costumes. But things don’t always go as expected. On one occasion, a trans woman got angry when asked if she had surgery, leaving Mesquita in a tight skirt live.
Symbol of Carnival, Monique Evans covered several editions, exuding irreverence, but not showing nostalgia. She did not respond to the request F5 to give a statement about the dance. On the website O Fuxico, in 2012, the former model and presenter declared that, in recent years, the event had become boring, and fallen into the sameness.
Mesquita, on the other hand, clings to positive memories and says that he is still remembered today for the coverage. Recently, he was at a restaurant in Rio and was approached by a man who had been interviewed by him at the event.
“It was there that I exploded on TV. No one wanted to do it because it was a gay dance, I was the only reporter who noticed it, and I miss it”, says he, who this year celebrates 40 years of career. “If I’m where I am today, I owe it to all the gays who played with me.”
CARNIVAL PROHIBITED?
Other more “straight” (straight) balls tried to rival the Gay Gala on TV, such as the Red and Black Ball. In the war for ratings, in 1988, Manchete and Band appealed to extreme sensuality in the broadcast. The negative repercussion resulted in a warning from the National Congress, and both had to retreat from showing the most libidinous scenes in the following years.
The post-prom period was also profitable, with the sale of VHS tapes with suggestive titles such as “Carnaval Proibido”. With the promise of showing “what TV didn’t show”, the product was nothing more than a slot machine, with less censored scenes of men and women, cis or trans, having fun, in an era in which eroticism was not within reach. one click.
However, if, for spectators, the Gay Gala symbolized carnal freedom, where everything seemed permitted and nothing prohibited, those who saw it up close say that it wasn’t all that crazy. Former regulars, for example, demystify any connection with sex and drugs.
“I never witnessed anything, people there wanted to play”, points out Mesquita. “At that time, I didn’t see anyone taking drugs. If I had, I would have spoken out. Nowadays things are much worse, but it was more fun there.”
Taylor also says that the content of the prom stories is not as unpublishable as many imagine. “Those who watched it on TV thought it was a bitch, but it wasn’t like that. There weren’t even any fights and, as for drugs, there was an inspection before entering,” she says.
When asked if sex was happening freely in the room, she clarifies: “Having sex there was impossible, there were a lot of people in a row, queues to get into the bathrooms, there was no sex.” “We knew someone and went to their house,” she explains.
THE LAST GAY GALA
Over time, Gala Gay received other names, such as Grande Gala G (GGG) and Scala Gay. The different denominations involved friction over the rights to the word “gay”. A guy had registered the term and, soon after, demanded a sum for its use.
The renowned music producer Guilherme Araújo (1936-2007) rejected the request and, as a solution, renamed it Grande Gala G. In addition to being the creator of the ball, he was also responsible for its revitalization, when the event, now under a different name and By the way, it was in decline in the central region of the city.
Scala Rio closed its doors to its Leblon location in 2010, and soon moved to the center of Rio, in the basement of a commercial building. These were the last gasps of the traditional dance, whose last edition took place in 2019. It was the end of one of the most colorful dances of the Rio Carnival.
Due to the pandemic, the music venue closed its activities in 2020. Sought by F5, Scala Rio’s advisor said that the company is budgeting for renovation or even reopening in another space, but with no prediction of when this will occur. For now, there are also no concrete plans for the Gay Gala to be resumed.
Regarding the last party, producer Ronni Silva, responsible for organizing it, has strong memories. “It was raining a lot, the red carpet was submerged, and people were waiting to enter; no one moved,” he describes. “I think deep down they knew it would be their last.”
Source: Folha
I am Frederick Tuttle, who works in 247 News Agency as an author and mostly cover entertainment news. I have worked in this industry for 10 years and have gained a lot of experience. I am a very hard worker and always strive to get the best out of my work. I am also very passionate about my work and always try to keep up with the latest news and trends.
