The story so far

It all started back in 1995, when we were learning to dance at Swarthmore with the wonderful Liz Normaschild, and let's face it, we wanted somewhere to show off our new-found skills. Victor Victoria's was born, with help from the folks who'd been running Nancy's in Bradford until a few months previously.

Our first events are so long ago, we can't quite remember what we did. We know it was a Tea Dance, and we know it was at Saltaire, but we can't remember - was it a one-off or part of a series of spring dances? Shout! hadn't started so we don't have any records. But the cakes were good, and people must have turned up, because that was followed by two autumn tea dances, also at the Victoria Hall in Saltaire, in October and November that year (photos and reviews).

The following year, we weren't happy with a mere tea dance, and so in February 1996 we held at first ball at Saltaire - the Masked Valentine's Ball. It was a huge success - over 200 dykes and gay men danced the night away with the Lavender Cafe Orchestra and Henry spinning discs. The ball was rapidly followed, in April 1996, with another Spring Tea Dance.

Later that year, we knew we'd made it on the gay scene when were invited to feature in Shout!'s '10 inches of'. You could be sure that we'd only do such a thing because we had something else to publicise - this time another Autumn Tea Dance in October and a Halloween Ball in November (photos and reviews). (Yes, we know Halloween is in October. We were only one day late.)

Then came the big break - we decided we needed a venue in Leeds, and where better than the splendid town hall? But could we really fill that huge place and not end up completely broke? Well, yes of course we could! Victor Victoria's had found the perfect venue for our Midsummer Ball in June 1997 (photos and Shout! review). It was the first time there'd ever been a gay event in Leeds Town Hall, and they obviously weren't used to 'our types' - despite incredibly slow bar service, we managed to drink the place dry. Oh, and we did a bit of dancing too!

By now we were getting used to the fact that our punters made a huge effort with their costumes, and were trying to meet their expectations with ever more glitz and glamour at our events. You wouldn't believe how much time a bunch of queens and lesbians can spend discussion exactly what shade of table cloth will complement exactly what type of table decoration. What prizes should we give out, in what competitions? Would we invite a special guest? And who was going to teach the community dances?

Next up was another Valentine's Ball in February 1998 (photos and Shout! review), now with two bars to cater to our alcoholic needs, and then later that year we were joined by Sir Ian MacKellen at our Halloween Ball (this time, we managed to hold it in October) (photos and Shout! review).

In June 1999 we returned to the town hall for the Big Bride's Ball (photos). What a sight! If ever your family complained about never getting to go to a wedding, here at least you could get a photo to please them. You've never seen so many wedding frocks, let alone so many lesbians in wedding frocks (and, less surprisingly, quite a few gay men too). Quite how they came by these gowns in the first place is a bit of a mystery, although many of them came from our favourite charity shop, the Salvation Army shop on Meanwood Road, where by now Val was putting aside costumes specially because they 'might come in' for a future ball.

Now, we've never aimed to make a profit, but at this stage things went a little awry. The Big Bride's Ball, popular though it was, lost money, and we ended with just 50 pounds in the bank - nowhere near enough to stage another ball. We put our heads together, and came up with two fund-raising events - the first our Tacky Christmas Social was held at Milan's, where we'd been running fortnightly practice dances for ourselves for a while, in December 1999. The second was bit of a departure, but a rip-roaring success nevertheless: we held our Queer Table Top Sale (photos) in January 2000 and the queer community of Leeds turned up in force to sell their unwanted tat and old costumes. We were back in business!

February 2000 saw our Valentine's SnowBall (photos and Shout! review) the first of our desparate attempts to find words which go with ball. For some reason, no-one seems very keen on 'Rubber Ball' but there was much excitement at the idea of 'Fur Ball'. Perhaps it was concern that some people might go for real fur that meant that our next event at Leeds Town Hall was actually the Glitter Ball (photos) in December 2000. But in the run up to that event, we embarked on a new venture, holding a series of Beginners' Lessons at the Grand Theatre's Studio. The lessons, given by Victor Victoria team members Steve and Mike, were an instant sell out; the Glitter Ball took longer to sell out but come the night there was a packed house and not a ticket to be had.

In 2001 we returned to Milan's for a Voluptuous Valentine Bash and then in the summer we were delighted to support the first Rainbow Picnic (photos) when the queer community rallied round after the old pride festival, Hyde Out, collapsed. By the end of the year we were back to what we know best - dance lessons again at the Grand, and the Winter Wonderland Ball (photos and review) in December. This time tickets sold like the proverbial hot cakes - three weeks before we were being bombarded with phone calls as people tried in vain to get tickets.

In 2002 we were back at the Town Hall for the Grease Ball (photos and review) , our homage to those summers nights from the 1950s. The ball was part of Leeds' second 'Rainbow Weekend'.

It was 18 months before we returned, and this time we packed the Town Hall with sailors and passengers of The Victor Victoria as she set sail back to the 1930s (photos).

Two years later (have you noticed that our events are getting further apart?) we were back, for a trip to Hollywood to collect our well deserved Oscars. This time we had a big band with us (Echo 4-2) and stars of the silver screen from The Tin Man to Marlon Brando (photos and video clips).

And finally... we decided to go out with a bang and announced our last ever ball (why? see Shout! for details). The FireBall was our fiery exit as we turned the Town Hall into an inferno of flames. Blackpool Tower's resident Empress Dance Band came along, so did a man twirling fire around the Town Hall steps, we had visitors from Leeds, Yorkshire, England, Scotland, France, the US and Brazil, and nearly 400 guests who did us proud with their fiery costumes, superb dancing, and all round good spirits.

Thanks to everyone who's ever helped out; thanks to our resident DJs, the various bands, door staff, Town Hall staff, Shout!, assorted places who've sold our tickets, people who've taught us to dance, our agents... but most of all to everyone who has supported our events over the last 13 years. We've had a ball. We hope you have too.

What happens next? Who knows? Not even us, at the moment, but we're done with balls! Maybe we'll arrange lessons, maybe it'll be small scale dances, maybe practice nights. Watch this space.

Previous Events

May 1995	Spring Tea Dance	Victoria Hall, Saltaire
October and November 1995	Autumn Tea Dances	Victoria Hall, Saltaire	click here
February 1996	Masked Valentine's Ball	Victoria Hall, Saltaire	click here
April 1996	Spring Tea Dance	Victoria Hall, Saltaire
October 1996	Autumn Tea Dance	Victoria Hall, Saltaire
November 1996	Halloween Ball	Victoria Hall, Saltaire	click here
June 1997	Midsummer Ball	Leeds Town Hall	click here
February 1998	Valentine's Ball	Leeds Town Hall	click here
October 1998	Halloween Ball	Leeds Town Hall	click here
June 1999	Big Brides' Ball	Leeds Town Hall	click here
December 1999	Tacky Christmas Social	Milan's, Leeds
January 2000	Queer Table Top Sale	Wrangthorne Church Hall	click here
February 2000	Valentine's SnowBall	Leeds Town Hall	click here
November 2000	Beginners' Lessons	Grand Theatre, Leeds
December 2000	Glitter Ball	Leeds Town Hall	click here
February 2001	Voluptuous Valentine Bash	Milan's, Leeds
July 2001	Supporting Rainbow Picnic	Hyde Park, Leeds	click here
November 2001	Beginners' Lessons	Grand Theatre, Leeds
December 2001	Practice Night	Serbian Club, Leeds
December 2001	Winter Wonderland Ball	Leeds Town Hall	click here
July 2002	Grease Ball	Leeds Town Hall	click here
December 2003	The Victor Victoria	Leeds Town Hall	click here
December 2005	Hollywood Ball	Leeds Town Hall	click here
February 2007	FireBall	Leeds Town Hall	click here