Lovechild - Moscow, Russia - February 2009

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London Lovechild visits Moscow Russia

Lets face it Russia isn’t the first country in the world you’d expect to have a good time if your gay. The rules are very different out there, before you go you have to respect that you’re in a county where gay life is kept very much underground and not wanted in public. Russia has no criminal law directed at gay people but has refused to enact legislation to address discrimination or harassment of homosexuality. Public opinion about gay topics and people tends to be negative, although there is a visible LGBT community network, including nightclubs and political organizations. Gay Prides are banned in Russia, Yuri Luzhkov, the infamous 2008 mayor of Moscow said gays are “the expansion of the west” and gay parades are “weapons of mass destruction”. Without sounding rude, the majority of Russian people seem quite bland; they could do with a nice colourful gay parade or Mardi Gras to cheer them all up.

Don’t let these negative things put you off going because we had a great time sight seeing and performing in the cities largest gay nightclub. When Alex Erfan (the promoter of Lovechild) announced we’d be doing a show in Moscow, all the dancers were very excited and keen to put on a spectacular show. Russia however isn’t as easy as you may think to visit. First you have to be invited by a company or hotel in Russia, and then with their invitation you apply for a visa. We had 14 people travelling and they all had different issues and problems, it got quite complicated dealing with all the paperwork, but we managed it, just. We travelled on tourist visas, so had to keep quite about the fact we were actually working there. Good job we don’t get searched at the airport in Moscow. I don’t know how we would explain 5,000 Lovechild promo CD’s which were distributed in everyone’s suitcases, along with all the dancers costumes and drag queen outfits. Not typical tourist luggage!

The flight from London was about 4 hours; we flew Friday evening, then due to the time difference arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning. Sleepy-eyed we checked straight into the massive Cosmos Hotel (about 20 min drive from Moscow’s centre), had breakfast then all got some much needed sleep. 6 hours later we met in the hotels massive lobby (which also doubled as a hooker pickup area), bought our classic Russian hats and ventured out into the snow for some snowball fun and sight seeing. First up was the Russian architecture masterpiece St Basil’s Cathedral, the Red Square and the Kremlin. It was fantastic to see these building in real life especially all covered in a thick layer of snow. Then it was off to do some shopping, my choice of souvenir when we go away seems to be speedos or underwear. We found some really nice Adidas black ones, but the stores credit card machine had just broken down so unfortunately had to walk away speedoless. My boyfriend and I held hands for a bit as we walked around the shopping centre. Although we were the tourists, we sometimes felt like we were a tourist attraction ourselves from all the big stares of amazement we got. I don’t think Russians have seen two guys holding hands before!

The venue and stage was massive so all the dancers rehearsed a lot during the week before so to put on a spectacular show. When we got back to the hotel after our day sightseeing we leant the venue had actually been changed due to an electrical problem. The new stage was much smaller than the original (about a fifth of the size), so it through a big spanner in the works for our chorography. We had to compress all the dance moves down to fit the new smaller stage layout and abandon the acrobatics. Our biggest problem then was that we didn’t have the simple thing of a CD player to rehearse for the new stage. You might think that the hotel, as massive as it was, would have one for hire. No such luck. OK we’ll buy one… not as easy as you’d think either at 6pm when the shops were closing. Not many people speak English and the writing is in a completely different alphabet. Trying to communicate with a taxi driver just isn’t possible. Luckily we were able to go to the venue early to practice there. I’ve got to say a massive thanks to Mila at this point for being such a star with the chorography and for all the dancers adjusting to the new routine at last minute. They did a great job as you can see in the videos below.      

Straight after the show we all bundled into the minibus outside and carried on our own little party on the way to the airport. We got what rest we could on the airplane and then rushed home for a quick shower and onto the next show in Pacha London. After all that we were finally able to get some much needed sleep following an amazing weekend. Special thanks to Alex, Erick, Mila, Conan, Bambam, David, Chantel, Joanna, Polly, Marcella, Per QX, Mattias and Evgeniy. We all worked as a team and accomplished two amazing LoveChild parties to be proud of.