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Clip description
Ari (Alex Dimitriades) dances a males-only traditional Greek dance in the ‘Steki’, admired by the man he has gone there to meet, Sean (Julian Garner) and Sean’s date, Ariadne (Katerina Kotsonis). The whole place is silenced when Johnny (Paul Capsis) arrives, dressed as Toula, his dead mother. Toula dances before the stunned crowd, as Ari sneaks out of the club. Sean, and then Toula, run after him.
Curator’s notes
The film is full of dancing; indeed it begins and ends with Ari dancing, but each dance sequence has a different meaning or inflection. In this scene in the ‘Steki’, Ari is expressing both his Greek heritage and his sexuality. One is open and acceptable in the culture, the other is not, although the way he dances suggests that the dancing itself has its own secret meanings. The arrival of Johnny cuts right through this unspoken hypocrisy. His openness about his sexuality is a direct challenge to Ari, who knows he can get away with a lot if he pretends to be heterosexual. Johnny’s bravery makes Ari run, in panic, lest his own secret life be exposed.
